Abstract

The coastal cultivation areas (CCAs) suffer to be affected by saltwater intrusion as a part of global warming. Low-salinity water (LSW) is considered as one of the effective alternative solutions for irrigation in water-scarce areas in the context of global warming. The main objective of this research was, therefore, to investigate the potential of using the LSW for watering the coastal sugarcane paddies in Tuy An District under the background of saline irrigation water. The research was deployed on three randomized blocks with sugarcane LK92–11, Uthong-11, and K83–29 varieties during the cultivation crop of 2018–19. Treatments included full freshwater irrigation and the LSW varying from 1.0 to 4.0 dS/m, respectively based on the drip irrigation system. The volume of irrigation water was equivalent to 100% of crop evapotranspiration. The daily crop evapotranspiration was simulated based on the APSIM-SUGAR model while the plant growth parameters such as mean number of living leaves, mean leaf area, stem diameter and sugarcane yield were investigated based on the Tukey test (p < 0.05). The results indicate that the blending rate for irrigating with LSW and freshwater at 1.5 dS/m enhanced the plant growth parameters as well as crop yield while the blending rate for different irrigations varying from 2.0 to 4.0 dS/m recorded a decline of both the plant growth parameters and crop yield. Based on the findings, the blending rate for irrigating with LSW and freshwater at 1.5 dS/m enhanced high crop yield but was not significantly different compared to full freshwater irrigation.