INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT LOCALIZED IRRIGATION SYSTEMS ANDTREATED AGRICULTURAL WASTEWATER ON DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITIES, POTATO GROWTH, TUBER YIELD AND WATER USE EFFICIENCY

A field experiment was conducted during 2012 and 2013 at the Experimental Farm of National Research Center (NRC), El-Noubaria Governor, Egypt, in sandy soil to study the effect of bubbler and drip irrigation systems and water quality on uniformity distribution, vegetative growth, tuber yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of Potato. Field uniformity distribution of bubbler and drip irrigation systems were 95.20 % and 95.97 %, respectively. The parameters of vegetative growth (plant length, LAI; branches number) under Irrigation system, treated agricultural waste water (TAWW) were increased by 6.0 %, 14.6 %; 15.3 % relative to bubbler irrigation system and fresh water (FW), respectively. Yield and WUE under drip irrigation system, TAWW were increased by 5.4 % and 5.7 % relative to bubbler irrigation system and fresh water (FW), respectively. Plant length and leaf are index (LAI) were the highest values under the control treatment (100% ETo water applied), while the branches number increased by decrease of applied water. Vegetative growth, tuber yield and WUE, could be arranged in ascending order: 50% < 75% < 100% due to amount of water applied. The effect of irrigation by drip irrigation systems and using TAWW was positively on vegetative growth parameters, (yield, andWUE). This could be attributed to the improvement in soil physical characteristics under using drip irrigation system relative to bubbler irrigation system and the soluble nutrients in the TAWW relative to fresh water.