Effects of soil matric potential on yield and water use efficiency of hot pepper under mulched drip irrigation
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DOI:10.7606/j.issn.1000-7601.2012.01.10
Key Words: arid areas in Northwest China  hot pepper  mulched drip irrigation  evaportranspiration  soil matric potential
Author NameAffiliation
YANG Huiying College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 
LIU Haijun College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 
LI Yan College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 
ZHENG Jianhua College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China 
JIA Dongdong College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China 
HUANG Guanhua College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China 
WANG Fengxin College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China 
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Abstract:
      For increasing water use efficiency in the arid areas of Northwest China, a field experiment was conducted to study the effects of different soil matric potentials(SMP) on pepper yield, water consumption and wa ter use efficiency under mulched drip irrigation. Five treatments were evaluated based on the soil matric potentials at 25 cm depth, and they were -10 kPa, -20 kPa, -30 kPa, -40 kPa and -50 kPa. The measured data included meteorological elements, soil water characteristic curves, soil matric potential, soil water content, yield and the weight of each pepper fruit. The results showed that controlling SMPs between -10 kPa and -40 kPa made minor effect on pepper yield, while pepper yield decreased greatly for controlling SMP of -50 kPa. Crop evaportranspiration and irrigation water amount dropped with the decreasing of SMP. Water use efficiency increased first with the decreasing of SMP and dropped then as controlling SMP of -50 kPa. Crop yield and water use efficiency were higher for contro lling SMP of -30 kPa to -40 kPa. Therefore, a SMP range of -30 kPa to -40 kPa was recommended for scheduling drip irrigated pepper under plastic mulching condition in the arid areas of Northwest China.