VEGETABLE PRODUCTION ON RICE BALES USING BRACKISH TREATED DRAINAGE WATER

The purpose of this researchwas to evaluate vegetable cultivation on rice bales as growingmedia placed on an extremely saline sodic soil in the Lake Manzala area using treated drainage water. Results were compared with those obtained from adjacent saline sodic soil reclamation practices. A pilot farmnear southeastern LakeManzala, Egypt, consisted of three rice bale rows and a drip irrigation system cultivated with tomato, eggplant and chilli pepper. After one month of bale composting and 3 months of cultivation, the yields produced were 30.0, 23.3 and 6.67 t ha(-1) for tomato, eggplant and chilli pepper respectively, not much less than the average Egyptian concurrent production cultivated on fertile soils irrigated with fresh Nile water. A comparison between the presented technology and the traditional land reclamation of such lands indicated that the rice bale cultivation gave early promising net income ranging from 35 to 3230 US$ha(-1) compared to the negative income (-300 to -500 US$ha(-1)) obtained after 3 years of continuous reclamation of adjacent saline sodic soils. Water consumption and virtual water of bale vegetables formed about 15% of the less value cash crops (sugar beet and fodder beet) produced during land reclamation. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.