Sustainable Production of Cabbage Using Different Irrigation Levels and Fertilizer Types Affecting Some Soil Chemical Characteristics

A field experiment was carried out during the two successive autumn seasons of 2013 and 2014 under open field conditions in protected cultivation site, Agriculture Research Centre, Giza governorate, Egypt. The study was investigating the effects of different irrigation levels (50, 75 and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc)) and different sources of fertilizers (inorganic fertilizers (control), cattle manure, compost and vermicompost) on some soil chemical characteristics and vegetative growth, yield and water use efficiency of head cabbage. Obtained results showed that soil pH decreased at the end of experiment with a range of 0.08-0.30, compared with before cultivation, with high decreases by 50% of ETc combined with vermicompost. ECe, on the other hand, increased due to different agricultural activities such as adding chemicals and fertilizers, with higher effect at treatment of 50% of ETc combined with cattle manure. Regarding the availability of N, P and K in the studied soil, the results showed that, N and P values decreased after harvest of plants, K values being however increased. In addition, organic fertilizers increased soil organic matter at the end of experiment to achieve the sustainability in agriculture, compared with application of mineral fertilizers. Also, the results showed that using different irrigation levels and organic fertilizers significantly affected the vegetative growth, nutrients content N, P and K in cabbage plants. Regarding the irrigation water treatments, 100% of ETc gave the significant highest number of leaves, head length, head width, head density, head volume along with fresh and dry weight per plant during the two studied seasons. Inorganic fertilizer treatment recorded the highest values in vegetative growth. Increasing water level up to 100% of ETc enhanced yield with different organic fertilizer treatments. However, regardless of organic fertilizer treatments, using 50% of ETc increased water use efficiency compared to other treatments of irrigation.