The role of the use of some soil enhancers and the type of subsurface drip irrigation tube in some of the physical properties of the soil and the efficient use of water for the eggplant crop under protected farming conditions in Kirkuk governorate

A field experiment was carried out in two plastic greenhouses to study the performance of two types of subsurface drip irrigation pipes by adding two types of soil conditioners and their effect on some physical properties of soil and the growth and yield of eggplants in greenhouses during the autumn season 2023 at the research station of the College of Agriculture, University of Kirkuk. The experiment included three main factors; the type of irrigation pipes of two kinds, the first pipes (T-Tape) and the second filtering pipes (RDI), the second factor involved the conditioner type (perlite and zeolite); and the third factor included addition levels (no addition, adding 0.5% of the weight of the experimental unit); and the design of split-split plots was used in the order of randomized completely block design (RCBD). An evaluation of the drip irrigation system was carried out before the start of cultivation. The type (RDI) irrigation pipe was given when evaluating the pre-cultivation irrigation system the highest value for each of design emission uniformity (EU%), field emission uniformity (FEU), absolute field emission uniformity (FEUa), the lowest values of coefficient of manufacture variation (C.V%), the difference in discharge (qvar%), and the discharge rate (qm litre hour-1) as the values reached (97.96%, 97.93%, 99.36%, 0.0646%, 0.013%, 0.765 litres hour-1), respectively compared to the T-Tape type drip irrigation pipe. Increased volumetric moisture content and lower salt concentration of RDI type irrigation pipe compared to T-tape drip irrigation pipe, the addition of perlite at the level of 0.05% also led to an increase in volumetric moisture content and a decrease in salt concentration compared to non-addition and zeolite addition treatments. The RDI-type drip irrigation pipe gave the highest values of plant height, dry weight of vegetation, leaf area and total yield,