Soil Electrical Conductivity (Salinity) Changes Due to Subsurface Drip Irrigation in Turfgrass Field Using Municipal Treated Wastewater.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of water quality, lateral installation depth and distance of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) laterals on soil electrical conductivity under turfgrass culture at the experimental farm of the Shahrekord University, Iran. The experimental design was a Split Split Plot with a completely randomized block with 16 treatments and three replications. Treatments included two types of water quality: fresh water (FW) and treated wastewater (TW), two installation distance of SDI laterals (45 and 60 cm) and four placement depths (15, 20, 25, and 30 cm). Soil samples from two layers, depths (0-30 and 30-60 cm) were collected at the end of the experiment. The ANOVA results showed that interaction of irrigation water quality × lateral distance × installation depth of laterals was significant on EC_e in the first layer. While in the second layer, interaction of lateral distance × installation depth and water quality × installation depth was not significant. Results also indicate that irrigation with TW, compared to FW, resulted in higher EC_e. By installing the laterals deeper in the soil profile, soil EC increased in the first layer, while decreased in the second layer. Moreover, the results indicated that there was no significant effect of experimental factors on soil pH.