Abstract:
South Africa is considered as a water scarce country and water shortage is a
major
constrains that often limits growth, yield, and quality of Swiss chard. A field experiment
was conducted on Swiss chard (
Beta vulgaris
L.) in loamy soil to evaluate Water Use
Efficiency (WUE), weed control, yield, and quality response to organic and
inorganic
mulch application during the winter/spring season (June to September). Treatments
included bare
-
soil (control), grass/hay, and newspaper, white
-
maize
-
meal bag, white
plastic and black plastic mulches. Black plastic, newspaper, and grass/hay mulc
hes
suppressed weeds significantly, which were encouraged under bare
-
soil, white plastic, and
maize
-
meal bag mulch conditions. There was an increase in the number of leaves and leaf
fresh mass with white plastic mulch, while bare
-
soil reduced plant dry mas
s and leaf area
significantly. Leaf area was improved with white plastic, black plastic and maize
-
meal
bag mulches. White plastic and grass/hay mulch improved
WUE
significantly, and exceled
above other treatments at 259.9 and 242.0 kg ha
-
1
mm
-
1
, respective
ly, followed by black
plastic mulch at 207 kg ha
-
1
mm
-
1
. Water use efficiency declined in the newspaper, maize
-
meal, and bare
-
soil treatments at 179, 130 and 74.7 kg ha
-
1
mm
-
1
WUE
, respectively. Thus,
the study reveals that the use of mulch under drip irri
gation has an explicit role in
increasing water productivity of Swiss chard.
Keywords:
Leaf area,
Plant fresh mass, Water applied, Weed control
