Drip Irrigation under Saline Water Use

Drip irrigation has some specific advantages under saline condition in comparison with other irrigation methods. Research has shown that this method of irrigation increases crop salt tolerance and yield under saline condition. Soil salinity under dripper where most of the roots are concentrated is usually low and increases with distance from emitter. Soil salinity under emitter can be even lower than irrigation water salinity. A change in salinity around dripper is due to changes in leaching fraction in this region. Leaching fraction is highest under dripper and is lowest on the periphery of the wetted zone where salt accumulation is greatest. This is of special concern for row crops with regard to placement of drip line and planting row. Factors which affect root zone soil salinity under drip irrigation include: irrigation water salinity, amount of irrigation water, soil texture and placement of drip line with regard to plantring row. Effect of these factors on soil salinity in the root zone is discussed in this paper.