Quantification of the Morphophysiological Response of Sesame to Salinity Stress in Different Irrigation Methods

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph. D Student of Irrigation and Drainage, Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Khuzestan , Iran.

3 Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Faculty of Water and Environmental Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

4 Department of Production Engineering and Plant Genetics, College of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz. Iran

Abstract

This study was conducted to quantify the effect of different irrigation methods with saline water on the yield and yield components of the sesame cultivar Behbahan in the form of split strip plots in a randomized complete block design in the educational farm of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in the crop years 2021 and 2022, with three replications. The main factor included three types of irrigation methods (drip tape, drip tape with mulch, and subsurface drip tape) in vertical plots, and the sub-factor included four salinity levels (1.8, 3.5, 5, and 6.5 dS/m) in horizontal plots. The results showed that with increasing salinity stress in the three irrigation methods, leaf area index, greenness index, and whole plant dry matter decreased, and the highest value in non-stress conditions (Ymax) was related to the drip tape with mulch. Modeling the changes in these traits with the Gompertz model had a good fit. The highest stress tolerance threshold (EC50%) was observed for leaf area index (13.8 dS/m) in the drip tape with mulch, for greenness index (25.6 dS/m), and total dry matter (11 dS/m) in the subsurface drip irrigation treatment. Oil content, seed yield, and oil were also affected by salinity stress and the interaction of irrigation methods. The highest seed yield (1092 kg/ha) under stress-free conditions was obtained from the drip tape with mulch treatment, which reached a stress tolerance threshold of 62.7 dS/m. 

Keywords

Main Subjects

Introduction:

Irrigation with saline water can lead to soil salinization, which has adverse effects on crop production and yield. Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oilseed crop that is widely cultivated in different parts of the world and in Khuzestan. It is usually cultivated from early July to early August (Attar Roshan et al., 2024). Salinity stress affects sesame growth and yield and disrupts its physiological processes.

Soil and water management methods, such as pre-planting irrigation, mulching, and irrigation methods, can increase crop productivity under saline conditions. It has been reported that plastic mulching can improve sesame seed yield under different conditions. It can also increase plant height, biomass production, and grain yield by maintaining soil moisture and reducing temperature fluctuations (Pramanik et al., 2015). Also, the timing and quality of irrigation water play a crucial role in sesame production under saline conditions. According to the above, the purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of different irrigation methods with saline water on physiological characteristics, yield, yield components, and sesame oil, and to quantify it using nonlinear regression models in the climatic conditions of Ahvaz.

Material and method:

This study was conducted in the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in the form of split strip plots in a randomized complete block design in the crop years 2021 and 2022 with three replications. The main factor included three types of irrigation methods (drip tape, drip tape with mulch, and subsurface drip tape) in vertical plots, and the secondary factor included three salinity levels (1.8, 3.5, 5, and 6.5 dS/m) in horizontal plots. Each plot was 3*3 m2, and the length of each line was three meters, and the distance between irrigation lines was considered to be half a meter, with a row spacing of 20 cm according to the sesame planting distance.

Salinity treatments started from the 4 to 6 leaf stage. Irrigation was carried out with a fixed interval of 5 days. The irrigation water volume was calculated based on the determination of the irrigation water depth using daily evaporation from an American Class A evaporation pan located at the field meteorological station.

To determine the yield and yield components, at the end of the growing season and when the seeds were fully ripe, after removing two rows of planting on both sides of the two center lines of each experimental plot from an area equivalent to one square meter, the plants were harvested. First, the dry matter of the experimental samples was weighed, and after separating the grains and weighing the grains of each sample, the grain yield was calculated. The nonlinear Gompers model was also used to examine the trend of changes in the indicators under study in different salinities.

Analysis of variance and comparison of the means of the experimental data were performed using Minitab software. Also, to evaluate the fit of the models, the root mean square error (RMSE) index and the coefficient of determination (R2) were used to select the best distribution function.

Result and Discussion:

The results showed that low salinity stress (3.5 dS/m) had no significant effect on sesame seed yield, but high salinity reduced it. Decreased sesame seed yield under salinity stress has also been reported in previous studies (Bazrafshan and Ehsanzadeh, 2014; Bekele et al., 2017). Modeling of grain yield changes showed that the Gompertz model was able to explain its changes well (R2 = 0.753-0.999 and RMSE = 8.46-0.16). The results of the parameters of this model also showed that the highest grain yield in non-stressed conditions (Ymax) and (1092 kg/ha) the highest threshold (EC50%) of stress tolerance (7.62 dS/m) were obtained with the drip tape irrigation method with plastic mulch cover, which did not differ significantly from the subsurface drip irrigation treatment.

Salinity stress reduced oil content and yield in all three irrigation methods, and these changes were less in the drip tape irrigation method with plastic mulch cover than in the other two methods. Fitting the Gompers model to these variables also indicated that this model was able to explain their changes in salinity stress to an acceptable extent. For example, R2 for oil content and yield was in the range of R2 = 0.753-0.999 and R2 = 0.676-0.999, respectively. The parameters of this model also showed that the drip tape irrigation method with plastic mulch cover showed the highest oil percentage and yield in non-stress conditions. Also, the stress tolerance threshold in this treatment was 11.8 dS/m for oil content and 96.6 dS/m for oil yield, which was higher than the other two treatments.

Funding

The study was funded by the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Country Iran, and Grant No. SCU.WI1404.273.

Authorship contribution

First author: Student, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation, editing.

Second author: Supervisor, conceptualization, methodology, supervision, funding acquisition, project administration, writing—review and editing.

Third author: Supervisor, conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition, review and editing.

Fourth author: Advisors, conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process

During the preparation of this work, the author(s) did not use artificial intelligence tools.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Research Council of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz for financial support.

Ethical considerations

The authors avoided data fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, and any form of misconduct.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Iranian Journal of Soil and Water Research
Volume 57, Issue 2
May 2026
Pages 353-373

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