EFFECT OF PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZER AND IRRIGATION LEVEL ON DESERT SOIL MANAGEMENT AND POTATO YIELD

A field experiment was conducted in the Karbala governorate. The study aims to determine the effect of different levels of available water depletion (25, 50 and 75% ) and different fertilization levels (0, 50 and 100) on the growth and yield of potatoes. The study was conducted as a complete randomized block design in three replicates. The quantity of irrigation water was calculated for each irrigation based on the moisture content by the weight method of the 0-30 cm of soil depth after irrigation and before the next irrigation during the growing season. The results were summarized that the 25% depletion treatment achieved the highest values of the water amount of 497.4 mm for the season, and it decreased to 406.4, 379.4 and 332.4 mm for other levels of available water depletion. The percentage of irrigation water saving was 18.3%, 23.7% and 33.1% for limited irrigation treatments. The depletion of 25% did not cause a significant decrease in grain yield compared to 75% depletion. The yield components have increased with a deficit of 25% and reached the highest value with a phosphorous level of 100 kg ha-1, while the lowest yield was at the depletion level of 75% with the phosphorous level of 0 kg ha-1