ارزيابي كاربرد پليمرسوپرجاذب بر عملكرد، كارآيي مصرف آب و ذخيره عناصر غذايي در خيار گلخانه اي

Evaluation of Super absorbent Polymer Application on Yield, Water and Fertilizer Use Efficiency in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

The use of new technologies for enhancing water and nutrient use efficiency will become more important over time, especially in arid regions with limiting water availability. Application of super absorbent polymers is a proper method to enhance water and nutrient use efficiencies, Super absorbent hydrogels absorb and store water hundreds times of their weight and improve some soil physical properties. In this research, the effect of super absorbent polymer on the yield performance, growth indices (length of shoot),water use efficiency and N, K, Fe and Zn uptake of a nursery plant (Cucumis sativus var. Gavrish), was evaluated. The greenhouse trial was conducted using factorial experiment with a completely randomized design layout in which the treatments were two soil textures (sandy and clay loam), three irrigation regimes consisting 50%, 75% and 100% ETc and the hydrogel treatments were soil containing 0, 4, 6 and 8 g/kg hydrogel. The results show that use of 4 g/kg superabsorbent polymer Superab A200 in a light texture soil and without stress or 25% deficit irrigation is recommended to achieve the best marketable yield and desired water use efficiency.