Abstract

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is widely grown under arid-warm regions under irrigation, but with limited empirically based information on irrigation interval, with farmers irrigating the crop every other day. The objective of this study was to determine the irrigation interval for optimising okra productivity under arid-warm regions in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Hardened-off okra seedlings were transplanted under field conditions and subjected to 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-and 14-day irrigation interval, with 2 000 ml tapwater/seedling using drip irrigation throughout the study. At 59 days after transplanting, irrigation interval had highly significant effects on plant variables, contributing from 62 to 80% in total treatment variation of the respective variables. Relative to 2-day irrigation interval standard, effects of 8-day irrigation interval for plant variables were significantly higher than those at lower or higher intervals, where productivity was significantly reduced. In conclusion, results in the current study suggested that 8-day irrigation interval was suitable for okra production under the existing conditions.