THE EFFECT OF IRRIGATION WATER SALINITY ON THE GROWTH OF CERTAIN CULTIVARS OF Curcumas melo VAR. FLEXUOSUSIS IN GREENHOUSES

An agricultural experiment was conducted inside a greenhouse belonging to the Al-Faris firm in the Zubair district during the winter season, 2020. The purpose of the experiment was to study the effect of irrigation water salinity on the growth of 21 cultivars of Cucumis melo var flexuosusis. During the experiment, efforts were made to integrate 42 factoring treatments, resulting from the use of two samples of irrigation water salinity: 1.0 dS m-1 and 5.0 dS m-1. Twenty-one cultivars of the Cucumis melo var flexuosusis. 16 produced locally and 5 imported, were treated with the two irrigation water samples. The results of the study showed that water salinity caused a meaningful increase in the high in plant, increasing Carbohydrates concentrations in the leaf's. Moreover, there was a meaningful increase in the net weight of the produce, calculated as follows: 4.95%, 45.49%, 15.40% and 23.60% respectively, in comparison to those cultivars irrigated with normal water. While the salinity was not significantly affected by leaf area, total chlorophyll. As to cultivars, it was noted that they reacted substantially differently, affecting all variables covered by the study. The following cultivars performed significantly better in terms of their productivity: Al-Masri, Diyali, Kirkuk and Mouseli, scored the following values 5.067, 4.981, 4.610 kg.m-2 respectively in comparison to other cultivars. Interestingly, the interaction of the two factors had a significant effect on the bulk of variables covered by the study. Thus, the Diyali cultivars, irrigated by salty water yielded the highest production, namely 5.616 kg per sq meter whereas the other cultivars, including Takrit, which is irrigated by fresh water, yielded the least productivity, not exceeding 2.505 kg.m-2 per sm.