Response of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) to drip irrigation and plastic mulching

Abstract

Brinjal is an indigenous vegetable crop grown in the subtropics and tropics. It is one of the most important, widely grown and mostly consumed with distinct preferences for their types and is being commercially cultivated in almost all frost free areas. Being indigenous to India and wide popularity, a number of brinjal hybrids and cultivars are under cultivation throughout the country, including Punjab which differ based on yield, fruit quality (taste, seed to pulp ratio, shelf life, moisture content, blossom-end scar size, etc.) and consumers’ preference (colour, shape, size and shining of fruit, spininess, calyx colour, etc.) (Prasad et al. 2010). In Punjab, it was grown on an area of 3370 ha with average yield of 21.2 t/ha (Anonymous 2015). In Punjab, brinjal can be transplanted at four different times i.e. first fortnight of November, first fortnight of February, end of April and in mid August. Most of the vegetable crops require light but frequent irrigations. In rainy season application of light irrigation is difficult, when irrigation is applied and subsequently it is followed by rainfall and leaching of applied fertilizer also occurs. Weed growth is another major problem in rainy season crop. Water availability for agricultural use is decreasing due to increasing population and industrialization particularly in developing countries.