Sumario: | Increase of water use efficiency in crops through better irrigation systems and use of
farmyard manure to fertilize plants and avoid contamination are needs in arid regions.
The objective was to evaluate a jalapeño pepper crop with organic fertilization and two
irrigation methods.This research was carried out at Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico,
in 2013 and 2014. The experimental units were randomly distributed in a split plot
design with four replications. Main plots were irrigation treatments and fertilizers were
applied as split plot treatments within each irrigation treatment. Irrigation was applied
with either a furrow irrigation system to apply 80% of the measured pan evaporation
or drip irrigation set to deliver 60% of the measured evaporation. The drip irrigation
treatment showed greater fruit yield than the surface irrigation (p<0.05). Green fruit
yield was similar among fertilized treatments in 2013 (p>0.05) and different in 2014
(p<0.05) with 40 t ha-1 solarized manure having the greatest fruit yield. Soil organic
matter and nitrate-N content were greatest in 2013 when solarized manure 40 t ha-1 was
used. There were no differences among fertilizer treatments in 2014 (p>0.05). Soil pH
and electrical conductivity remained unchanged among treatments in each year of the
study. Drip irrigation had a positive effect in the fruit yield in spite of delivering a lesser
amount of water. The solarized manure applied at 40 t ha-1 had the greater effect in the
fruit yield in year 2 but not in year 1.
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