Consumptive Use of Water, Yield, and Total Dry Matter of Drip-Irrigated Cabbage Grown under Different Levels of Applied Water

Abstract

The productivity of cabbage during the dry season in the coastal savannah environment of Ghana is constrained by inadequate availability of water. Two cabbage varieties, K-K Cross and Oxylus were grown in a Coastal Savannah environment using a small-scale drip irrigation system and irrigated at water application levels of 40, 55, 70, 85 and 100 % of required water. The experiment was executed using the split-plot design in three replicates with the main plot being the levels of applied water and the two cabbage varieties assigned to the sub-plots. The aims of the study were to estimate consumptive use actual evapotranspiration (AET) for two cabbage cultivars grown at different levels of applied water using the family drip irrigation technology and to determine total fresh, marketable fresh and total dry matter yields of two drip-irrigated cabbage cultivars at different levels of applied water. Generally, the productivity and consumptive use of water of K-K Cross and Oxylus decreased in response to decreasing levels of applied water with consumptive use, total fresh yield and total dry matter at 100% level of applied water being highest and significantly (P≤0.01) different from corresponding values at 40%, 55%,70% and 85% levels of applied water. Results of the study, therefore, emphasized the need to maintain adequate soil moisture to enhance effective use of water and productivity.