The effect of natural mulches on evaporation reduction of soil surface under different irrigation water salinity

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Water Science and Engineering Department, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran

2 Water Science and Engineering Department, Ardakan University

Abstract

Water conservation and increasing water use efficiency is one of the major principles of sustainable agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Application of natural eco-friendly mulches is an effective method for reducing soil evaporation and consequently water consumption in agriculture. In this study, the effect of different mulch types on soil evaporation was investigated under saline and non-saline conditions. A factorial pot experiment in a completely randomized design was conducted with four mulch types (C1: bare soil, C2: gravel, C3: sesame residue and C4: pistachio residue), three levels of irrigation water salinity (S1: EC=0.8 dS m-1 (fresh water), S2: EC= 6 dS m-1 and S3: EC=12 dS m-1) in three replications. Results showed that the highest evaporation reduction after 3 weeks was observed in soil with gravelly mulch (58%) followed by sesame (41%) and pistachio (37%) residue as compared to the bare soil. Soil evaporation and residual water content in gravelly covered soil were respectively 7% lower and two times higher than those ones of the bare soil even 105 days after irrigation. Although the effect of water salinity on soil evaporation was not significant, however soil moisture in saline treatments was about 1-3% higher than that of non-saline one in any type of mulch. By generalizing the results of the evaporation reduction to the field, irrigation interval become at least 5 days longer and irrigation events of the pistachio orchards in Ardakan region decrease at least one time during the growing season. The amounts of reserved water due to application of gravel, sesame and pistachio mulch were 8.5, 6 and 5.4 Mm3, respectively. In view of the aquifer balance, these amounts of saving water results in 185 wells with 20 lit/s discharge being off for 27, 19 and 17 days, respectively.

Keywords


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