The effect of irrigation applied based on the images ontained by use of minirhizotron camera on the root growth, yield and water use efficiency in pepper

This study was conducted in 2011 at Dardanos Research Center of Agricultural Faculty, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University; as a Master of Science Thesis. The objective of the study was to monitor the effect of irrigation on the root growth, yield and irrigation water use efficiency in pepper based on the images of root density obtained by minirhizotron camera. As part of the study, 6 different irrigation levels were used in which 100% (SD1), 80% (SD2), 60% (SD3), 40% (SD4), 20% (SD5), and 0% (SD6) of soil moisture deficiency at the soil profile along the effective root depth were applied. Irrigations were done according to the measurements in SD treatments. Before each irrigation, effective root depth was determined by doing root measurements in SD1 treatment.Experimental plots were irrigated 13 times totally, and the highest amount of water was applied to SD1 with 590 mm, while the lowest amount to SD6 with 38 mm. Seasonal water consumptions were 544 mm, and 113 mm for SD1 and SD6, respectively. The highest yield was from SD1 with 4614 kg/da, whereas the lowest was from SD6 with 827 kg/da. In terms of irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), SD1 treatment yielded the lowest value with 7.82 kg/m3, while SD6 did the highest with 21.76 kg/m3. Calculation of water use efficiency (WUE) showed SD3 and SD2 resulted in the highest and the lowest numbers with 9.00 kg/m3 and 7.31 kg/m3, respectively. With decreasing irrigation levels, number of fruits increased, while average fruit weight, fruit length and fruit diameter decreased.Keywords: Drip irrigation, Pepper, Yield, Minirhizotron Camera