EFFECT OF IRRIGATION REGIMES ON THE QUALITY, GROWTH, AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MANGO

The situation of water shortage in arid and semiarid regions is getting worse due to the unexpected climatic changes, continuous population growth and increasing consumption of fresh water in the agricultural sector. The aim of study was to evaluate the impact of irrigation regimes on quality, tree growth, and mango yield, under semi-arid climate. Therefore, these experiments for mango trees (Eiwas) were carried out during 2013 and 2014 in soil of sandy soil under different irrigation regimes. The drip irrigation system was used. The mango tress was exposed to four water regimes through two years (T1= 100% of available water as a control, T2 = 85% of T1, T3 = 75% of T1 and T4 = 60 % of field T1). Manure was added to all treatments with the same percentage, while compost in addition to manure was added the last three of them.The results showed that, the T2 treatment proved to be the most appropriate, since it allowed the trees to reach the highest yield (6360.9 Kg/ fed) and the best water-use efficiency (1.13 kg/m3). When, the T4 proved to be the lowest values, since it allowed the trees to reach the lowest yield (2166.6 Kg/ fed) and the lowest water-use efficiency (0.55 kg/m3). There were good relationships between water requirements with yield, volume, total acidity and leaf area under four water regimes (R2 equal to 0.72, 0.81, 0.86 and 0.99), respectively. As well as there were good relationships between water use efficiency with yield, volume, total acidity (R2 equal to 0.92, 0.53, 0.81), respectively. It can be concluded that, T2 with farmyard manure and compost was the most appropriate amount of water under the climatic conditions of the study area was, because that achieved high values of growth, productivity and quality of mango. Although the study was conducted through two years conclusive suggestions about the effect of the various irrigation treatments on vegetative and fruit growth and quality can only be made after a longer time period because of seasonal differences in climate and the alternating growth habit of mangoes.