Light extinction coefficient and radiation use efficiency of two greenhouse basil (ocimum basilicum L.) cultivars under deficit irrigation

ABSTRACT

This two-year experiment with different planting seasons (April 2018 and August 2021) aimed to determine the effect of deficit irrigation (DI) levels (DI0: 100%, DI30: 70%, and DI60: 40% field capacity) on light interception, light extinction coefficient (k), dry biomass and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of two basil cultivars (Green and Purple). The greenhouse experiment was arranged in a split-plot design with three replications. The results showed that the k values ranged from 0.57 to 0.68 and 0.31 to 0.43 in April and August planting, respectively. The cumulative solar radiation interception, dry biomass, and RUE depended on DI levels, harvest numbers, and seasons. In two study years, dry biomass decreased and RUE increased with the reduction in irrigation water at all harvests and their total. Compared to DI0, basil dry biomass did not show a considerable decrease under DI30 in three harvests in April planting and in the first and second harvests in August planting. April planting had the higher cumulative solar radiation interception in the first and third harvest than the August planting. The basil dry biomass and RUE in the April planting were higher than those in the August planting at all three harvests and their total.

KEYWORDS:

• Biomass accumulation
• leaf area index
• light interception
• planting date
• solar radiation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Morteza Goldani, Fatemeh Yaghoubi and Ali Asadi. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Fatemeh Yaghoubi and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Consent to participate

The authors voluntarily agree to participate in this research study.

Consent for publication

The authors confirm no conflict of interest and agree with submission of the manuscript to the Journal.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval

This research meets all the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of Iran.

Additional information

Funding

No funds, grants or other support was received.