Roots and Nutrient Distribution under Drip Irrigation and Yield of Faba Bean and Onion

Abstract

Drip irrigation proved to efficiently provide irrigation water and nutrients to the roots of plants, while maintaining high yield production. This research was established to study the root and nutrient distribution under drip irrigation. Faba bean and onion plants were cultivated in the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture of Suez Canal University in Ismailia city with the application of normal fertilizers to soil. The data showed that soil moisture content in the soil planted with faba bean increased with the horizontal distance between drippers, contrariwise moisture content decreased with horizontal distance with the soil planted with onion. The data showed the vertical distribution of root length, root length density and specific root length of faba bean and onion decreased with increasing soil depth. The data showed that ammonium and nitrate pattern at the soil planted with the both plants increased between drippers and laterals. The peak concentration was recorded 35 mg/kg at 60 -80 cm soil depth for faba bean and onion, indicating that the NO 3 -N leaching was low by drip irrigation. Available phosphorus was higher at the surface layer than the subsurface layer at the soil planted with faba bean and onion. Available potassium tended to move both horizontally and downward under drip irrigation.

Root distribution and its relations with soil chemical attributes and yield of banana under fertigation with and without soil covering

“…The use of fertigation was effective in increasing total root length (TRL) and root length density (RDL) in the drip irrigation system (Table 4), where the positive effects of fertigation on root growth were verified in apple (Neilsen, Parchomchuk, Neilsen, & Zebarth, 2000) and tomato (Rimcharoen & Wonprasaid, 2016), where the benefits of fertigation included nutrient distribution within the soil profile (Mahgoub, Mohamed, El Sikhary, & Ali, 2017). The more relevant role of increasing the TRL and RLD in the drip irrigation systems compared to those under the micro-sprinkler irrigation (Table 4) should be due to the smaller soil wetted volume under drip irrigation, which also had a larger concentration of nutrients and a higher soil moisture within the root system.…”