Impact of drip irrigation with reclaimed water on yield and quality of pepper
DONG Siqiong
TIAN Juncang
SHEN Hui
YAN Xinfang
OUYANG Zan
Abstract：[Objective]With increasing water scarcity and the need for sustainable agriculture,reclaimed water has been increasingly used for irrigation.However,concerns remain about its effects on crop growth,yield,quality,and food safety.This paper experimentally investigates these effects.[Method]A field experiment was conducted in 2020 in a pepper field at an experimental site managed by the Ningxia ShuiTou Zhongwei Water Co.,Ltd in Zhongwei City.There were three irrigation-water treatments:irrigation using tap water(S1),irrigation using a 1∶1 mixture of reclaimed water and tap water(S2),and irrigation using reclaimed water(S3).Each irrigation-water treatment had three irrigation amount treatments:2 040 m3/hm2(W1),2 820 m3/hm2(W2)and 3 600 m3/hm2(W3).During the experiment,we measured the growth,physiological traits,yield and quality of the pepper.The experimental results were evaluated using the principal component analysis method.[Result]When irrigation amount was the same,plant height,stem thickness,net photosynthetic rate,yield,water use efficiency(WUE),irrigation water use efficiency(IWUE),vitamin C,soluble sugar,capsaicin,nitrate,arsenic(As),total bacterial count,coliforms,and E.coli content ranked in the order of S3＞S2＞S1;the soluble protein content ranked in the order of S3＞S1＞S2.Using reclaimed water,increasing irrigation amount increased plant height,stem thickness,photosynthetic rate,yield,As,total bacterial count,coliforms,and E.coli.With increasing irrigation amount,WUE,vitamin C,soluble protein and capsaicin initially increased and then declined,whereas IWUE,soluble sugar,and nitrate decreased gradually.Lead(Pb),chromium(Cr),and Salmonella were not detected in the fruit;Arsenic content ranged from 0.011 5 to 0.024 2 mg/kg,within the limits in the National Food Safety Standard for Pollutants(GB2762-2022).PCA analysis indicated that the S3W2 treatment gave the highest composite score,making it the optimal irrigation strategy.[Conclusion]With a precipitation of 174.30 mm during reproductive period of the pepper in the study region,drip irrigation using reclaimed water with irrigation amount of 2 820 m3/hm2 is optimal for growth,yield and quality of pepper in the experiment.
Keywords：reclaimed waterdrip irrigationpepperwater use efficiencyprincipal component analysisheavy metalpathogenic bacteria
Publication Date：2025-09-30
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：10( 49-58 )