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• 25

  Mar
  Blending of desalinated and saline water for efficient, environmentally responsible agricultural use

  Vegetables

  by Naftali Lazarovitch

  תחום או ענף ירקות; תבלינים

  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012

  Blending of desalinated and saline water for efficient, environmentally responsible agricultural use
  Naftali Lazarovitch – Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Alon Ben-Gal, Uri Yermiyahu, Ina Finegold, Lodmilla Yosofov – Gilat Research Center, ARO
  Dafna Harari, Ami Maduel, Uri Zeiri, Aviram Asraf, Rami Golan, Svetlana Gogio, Shabtai Cohen – Central and Northern Arava R&D
  David Silverman – Extension Service (SHAHAM), Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
  Shoshana Soriano – Institute of Plant Protection, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center
  Corresponding author’s address: lazarovi@bgu.ac.il, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Sede-Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990, Israel

  Abstract
  The minerals needed by agricultural crops that are missing from desalinated water can be applied to those crops as fertilizer. Alternatively, they can be supplied by mixing the desalinated water with saline water in which the concentrations of these minerals are high. Our research question is whether the blending of desalinated water with saline water, as a method for adding minerals that were removed in the desalination process and are necessary for optimal crop yield, is economical and sustainable from an environmental perspective. The goal of the research was to evaluate different approaches for supplying the minerals that crops irrigated with desalinated water lack: blending or adding fertilizer.
  This study included experiments carried out under controlled conditions and in semi-commercial plots. During the 2010/11 season, two experiments were conducted in basil (Ocimum basilicum). One experiment was carried out in a system of 24 lysimeters in a greenhouse at the Gilat Research Center and the other was carried out in a system of 12 lysimeters and in field plots in a semi-commercial greenhouse at the Zohar Experimental Station in Sodom Valley. Basil was found to be very tolerant of salinity. Plants irrigated with saline water and blended water produced yields equivalent to those of plants that were irrigated with desalinated water and treated with fertilizer, but only when the irrigation volume was increased more than 20%.

  Acknowledgements
  We would like to thank the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture for funding research project no. 304-0393-10, the JCA Charitable Foundation, the management of the Vegetable Division of the Plant Board and the Herb Growers’ Association for their financial support of this project. We extend heartfelt thanks to herb grower Eran Wein from Moshav Ein Tamar for his help with the harvests.

  שפה English
  KEYWORDS Sweet basil, saline water, desalinated water
  AUTHERS Naftali Lazarovitch, Alon Ben-Gal, Uri Yermiyahu, Ina Finegold, Lodmilla Yosofov, Dafna Harari, Ami Maduel, Uri Zeiri, Aviram Asraf, Rami Golan, Svetlana Gogio, Shabtai Cohen, David Silverman, Shoshana Soriano
  שנה 2011
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 14/3/2012
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012
• 12

  Dec
  Blending desalinated and saline water for efficient agricultural irrigation and the environmental effects of this practice

  Vegetables

  by Naftali Lazarovitch

  תחום או ענף אגרוטכנולוגיה; ירקות

  תאריך עדכון 29/9/2011

  תיאור מלא Blending desalinated and saline water for efficient agricultural irrigation and the environmental effects of this practice

  Naftali Lazarovitch - Ben Gurion University
  Alon Ben-Gal , Uri Yermiyahu - Gilat Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
  Ami Maduel, Rivka Offenbach , Shabtai Cohen - Central and Northern Arava R&D

  Email for correspondence: lazarovi@bgu.ac.il

  The minerals lacking from desalinated water intended for agricultural use can be added as fertilizer or, alternatively, they can be supplied by mixing the desalinated water with saline water containing high concentrations of the missing elements. Our research question is as follows: Is mixing desalinated water with salts, to add the minerals that were removed during the desalination process and that the plant needs in order to produce the best yield, a correct, economic and sustainable solution from an environmental perspective? The overall objective of this research was to test different approaches (mixing saline water with desalinated water or adding fertilizers) for supplying the missing minerals to plants irrigated with desalinated water. The specific goals of this study were: A) to quantify the advantages and disadvantages of mixing desalinated water with saline water for pepper, basil and tomato crops, and in terms of environmental contamination; B) to adapt and evaluate processes in integrated models of water flow and salt transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum to estimate yield and environmental damage as functions of the quality and composition of irrigation water; and C) relations between positive and negative ions in the context of plant uptake and accumulation in the plant.
  This study is based on experiments conducted in plants under controlled conditions in semi-commercial plots. In this study, we also used models of the soil-plant-atmosphere system. Between September 2009 and May 2010, two experiments were carried out in pepper (Capiscum annuum), cv. Celica. One experiment was carried out within a system of 24 lysimeters in a greenhouse in Gilat and the second experiment was carried out in a system of 12 lysimeters in field plots in a semi-commercial greenhouse at the Zohar Research Station in Sodom Valley. Plots irrigated with the mixture of saline and desalinated water had yields equal to those of plots in which the plants received desalinated water and fertilizer, but only when the irrigation volume was increased by more than 20%. The environmental costs of excess irrigation when the salinity of the water is greater than 0.9 (desalinated + fertilizer) as compared to 2 dS/m (mixed + fertilizer) are significantly different and twice the amount of salts were spilled outside the root zone in the mixed-water plots than in the plots irrigated with desalinated water.

  Acknowledgements
  This research was partially funded by the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Research Program 304039309) and the JCA Fund.

  שפה English
  מלות מפתח irrigation, salinity, lysimeters, bell pepper, Capsicum
  מחבר Naftali Lazarovitch, Alon Ben-Gal , Uri Yermiyahu, Ami Maduel, Rivka Offenbach, Shabtai Cohen
  שנה 2010
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 29/9/2011
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012