Investigation of water salinity effect on ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) dry matter yield with determination of salinity production function Investigation of water salinity effect on ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) dry matter yield with determination of salinity production function (Case study: Ahwaz)

The saline waters usage is a suitable way for supply of agricultural sector water. This research was carried out in a randomized complete block design with four treatments and three replications on Ziziphus mauritiana seedlings. The treatments were irrigation water shaving electrical conductivity of 0.3, 3, 6 and 9 dSm-1. The results showed that irrigation water salinity had significant effect on leaf number, leaf chlorophyll, stem diameter and shoot wet and dry matter and relative water content. The leaf number, shoot wet and dry matter and relative water content decreased significantly with increasing irrigation water salinity from 6 to 9 dS m-1. These characters decreased 36.1%, 38.6%, 23.3% and 23.9%, respectively. There were no significant difference in seedling vegetative characters between waters having electrical conductivity of 3 and 6 dSm-1. The salinity production functions were estimated in various equations of linear, quadratic, cubic, logarithmic and exponential. The results showed that all equations except exponential could estimate shoot dry matter more than actual data. The cubic equation had the best accuracy for Ziziphus mauritiana seedlings.