Assessment of irrigation water salinity effects on red beet under Mediterranean conditions

Plant tolerance to salinity stress is vital for irrigation scheduling, decision-making, planning and operation, and most critically, water resource management. Although there are numerous scientific data on the response of various plants to salinity stress, there are few studies on red beet in the literature, and specifically under Mediterranean conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of water salinity stress on water use, growth, yield parameters, and salinity threshold and slope values of red beet in Mediterranean conditions. In addition to control (0.6 dS m-1), five irrigation water salinity levels including low (1.5 dS m-1), medium-low (3.0 dS m-1), medium (4.5 dS m-1), medium-high (6.0 dS m-1) and high salinity (8.0 dS m-1) stresses were used as treatments. Increased water salinities caused increases in electrical conductivity and pH values of saturated soil paste extracts and drainage waters, while decreases in water use affected plant height storage root yield and water use efficiency. The salinity threshold and slope values of red beet were determined as 3.10 dS m-1 and 4.42% per dS m-1.