This work focuses on the possibility of applying brackish water (3 to 9 dS/m) as supplemental irrigation to wheat, barley and corn.
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The trial was conducted at IAMBari greenhouse over 36 pots per each of the three crops; the fully fresh-water irrigated treatment gave the best biomass and yield, the drought-simulating treatment from flowering gave the worst results and the other treatments with supplemental irrigation as a fraction of full irrigation, either with fresh or brackish water gave a rather uniform, homogeneous response.Wheat and barley showed higher crop water productivity as compared to the fully irrigated control: this points to the possibility of reducing drought-risk through applying small quantities of brackish water, without seriously impairing soil fertility since the quantities of added salts are however very small.Corn showed reduced drought-tolerance in the late vegetative and following stages, which makes the solution not applicable to this crop.
