Bottle gourd was cultivated with saline water, using pitcher irrigation at experimental field of Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Pakistan. Ten unglazed baked clay pitchers with a water-holding capacity of
approximately 10 L were installed in soil. Two types of irrigation water—fresh water and saline water with salinities of 1.2 dS m−1 (treatment T1) and 10 dS m−1 (treatment T2), respectively—were used to fill the pitchers. The choice of pitchers and water type were randomized, and each treatment was repeated six times. The experimental results showed that, compared with conventional surface irrigation methods, pitcher irrigation reduces water consumption by approximately 82%–84%. In addition, water seepage in pitchers containing saline water was approximately 13.7%
lower than in those containing fresh water. The measured and simulated results showed that the maximum salt concentration was near the soil surface. Use of saline water resulted in a slight loss (approximately 22.2%) in the crop yield. Although the plants were under dry stress when the surface evaporation rate reached 9 cm d−1, high crop productivities of 13.12 kg m−3 and 11.81 kg m−3 were obtained with fresh and saline water, respectively. Pitcher irrigation is thus a novel irrigation method that can be effectively employed in arid regions where only saline water is available.
Key Words : Bottle gourd, crop water productivity, salinity, subsurface, yield.