The Effect of Irrigation Water Salinity on the Yield of Tomato and Soil Salinization

Because of the potential effects of natural sources used for irrigation on crop yield and soil salinization, research on this subject is a common field in agriculture. The aim of this field study using tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum M. cv. Falcon) has been to determine the effect of irrigation water salinity on the yield and soil salinization using 4 irrigation water salinities (ECi= 1.1, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 dS/m) and 2 alkalinities (SAR = 5 and 10) with factorial experiments in a randomized block design during the years of 1992 and 1993 growing season on the same parcels. The results for the first year showed the salinities and alkalinities did not effect the yield of tomato. But in the second year, the yield was affected by the salinities due to the soil salinity deposited from the previous year. The soil salinity increased with all treatments, especially in the profile of 0-40 cm with those which have higher salinity.