Evaluation of Boron-removed Geothermal Water for Wheat Irrigation: Effects on Seedling Development in Different Wheat Varieties

Abstract

The need for water has been increasing day by day with the growing industry and increasing population. Since global climate change and environmental problems have caused the depletion of water resources, it is necessary to make all kinds of water resources usable. Geothermal water resources, which are considered an alternative water source for this study, cannot be used directly in agricultural irrigation because they contain high levels of boron and heavy metals that are toxic for plants. For this reason, the usability of boron-removed geothermal resources in wheat agriculture was investigated. The irrigation water required for growing wheat has been brought to the desired limit values. The emergence and seedling development characteristics of the grown wheat were examined by using seeds of bread wheat and durum wheat which are two different wheat varieties as plant materials. According to the results of the study, decreases in the emergence percentages and seedling growth were observed in the comparisons made between the experiment and the controls. According to the comparison between varieties, bread wheat variety (Pehlivan) was more affected than durum wheat variety (Mirzabey-2000).