Effect of Drip and Capsule Irrigation along with Super Absorbent Polymer on Osteospermum Plant in Green Wall

One of the methods of increasing the water use efficiency is the application of water absorbent materials in Soil. Super absorbent polymer increases the water saving in soil and decreases the amount of water used for irrigation. By developing paths in public places creating green wall is very common. Green wall may have an efficient role in reducing cooling and heating energy of building and improving the thermal performance also it leads to biodiversity, reducing noise pollution and air pollution by absorbing CO2, dust and heavy metals. Irrigation requirement in green wall depends on the type of system, plant and climate condition. The plant used in this research was Osteospermum. The benefits of irrigation of capsule clay can be attributed to increase irrigation efficiency, yield and quality indices of products, the abundance of raw materials to make it and the lack of dependence on the currency for the pottery production Also simple and native technology doesn’t need power, reduced energy consumption and pests, diseases and weeds, thereby reducing the consumption of chemical pesticides insecticides, fungicides and herbicides, and the possibility of producing a healthier product, especially in cultivation. The other advantages of the greenhouse products are maintaining soil, preventing traps and the possibility of deploying in arid and semi-arid areas.
So far, many researches about application of superabsorbent polymer have been done increasing the water use efficiency, irrigation interval and production yield but there has been no research conducted on drip and capsule irrigation in green wall. Two methods of drip and capsule irrigation compared with current irrigation methods in the green wall and polymer to reduce the number of irrigation steps was used due to lack and importance of water and introduction of capsule irrigation method as a new method of irrigation in the green wall in order to facilitate the implementation of irrigation system.
This study was conducted in order to compare capsule and drip irrigation along with different levels of polymer on Osteospermum plant.
This research was done in Shahrekord University. The experiment region has a semi-arid climate. The study was carried out as a factorial experiment in the form of completely randomized design with 8 treatments and 4 replications. Treatments were consisting of two types of drip and capsule irrigation and four levels of super absorbent polymer consist of zero, 0.3%, 0.6%, 0.9%. The experiment was done in pots. In order to simulate planting conditions circumstance with green wall, a shelf with four floors and 8 pot capacity in each floor was made from iron. The shelves were embedded so that the plant had a proper and identical condition in terms of growths, receiving light and irrigation. In this study the analysis of obtained data was accomplished with SAS software and for average comparison the LSD test at 5 percent level was used.
The results of analysis of variance showed that clay capsule and drip irrigation with different levels of superabsorbent polymer have a positive and significant effect on water use efficiency, relative water content, total chlorophyll and growth indices of Osteospermum. The results also showed that fresh and dry shoot weight, leaf area, mean shoot length and relative water content are related to the treatment of 0.6% polymer in drip irrigation and maximum flowering therewith water use efficiency is related to 0.6% polymer in capsule irrigation. The treatment of 0.9% polymer in capsule irrigation had the highest root length and chlorophyll content. Water use efficiency in capsule irrigation (2 kg/m3) was higher than drip irrigation (1.8 kg/m3).
The results showed that using capsule irrigation in green wall is applicable, despite its limitations and it can be used an irrigation method in green wall. Water use efficiency and number of flowers in this method were more than the drip irrigation method which enhanced the importance of this method. Accompanying this method with super absorbent polymer, improve the growth and water use efficiency by increasing the air conditioning, porosity and maintaining nutrients in soil. In compare with conducted researches, drip irrigation which is considered as one of the green wall irrigation methods has acceptable water use efficiency; also the existence of polymer had a positive effect on the growth of Osteospermum plant. The results showed the application of 0.6% polymer along with capsule irrigation could be a proper method for Osteospermum in green wall.