Evaluation of the effect of different irrigation regimes on evapotranspiration and yield components of Kale

Abstract

This study examined the effects of different irrigation regimes on evapotranspiration and yield components on kale vegetable. The experiment was carried out in pots with three varying irrigation regimes at 100% ETC, 50%ETC and control (0% ETC) as treatments and three replications, where ETC means crop evapotranspiration requirement. The research was conducted on kale vegetable (gorgia variety) at Busitema University demonstration site in pot bags of 30cm*30cm. The research study also focused on developing simpler and easier irrigation scheduling technique that can be applied by greenhouse and urban farmers. Under this, three irrigation scheduling models were examined thus evapotranspiration based on Penman Monteith formular, pot mass weighing and evaporation measurements. The results from yield output indicates that more yield output can be achieved through reduced ETC application. The results obtained from this study indicate that irrigation scheduling is possibly through direct pot weight measurement and pan evaporation approach in addition to the penman monteith approach. The optimal values of ETC for the three models were 1.400mm/day for weight measurement, 1.448mm/day for penman monteith and 0.609mm/day for pan evaporation. The results for leaf yield output for the different irrigation treatment were 3.254Mg/ha, 1.981Mg/ha and 0.849Mg/ha for 100% ETC, 50% ETC and 0% ETC respectively. Though T1 gave the highest yield output, it did not double that of T2(50%) ETC where half T1 treatment was applied.