2.2. Irrigation treatmentsThe treat

2.2. Irrigation treatments
The treatments consisted of three different irrigation intervals
(S7: 7 days, S14: 14 days, and S21: 21 days) and five different
irrigation levels. The irrigation levels were 100% or full irrigation
(I100: non-stressed), 75% of full irrigation (I75), 50% of full irrigation
(I50), 25% of full irrigation (I25), and no irrigation (I0). According to
the experimental design, 15 different irrigation treatments were
applied (Table 3). Irrigation level treatments were based on the
application of the amount of water at full irrigation treatments
depending on irrigation intervals. In every application, the amount
of irrigation water in I100 treatments was calculated from the difference
of the field capacity and measured soil content according
to irrigation intervals (7, 14, and 21 days). The moisture content
of the soil was measured by the gravimetric method (Evett et al.,
1993). To determine gravimetrically the water content of the soil,
the soil samples from 30, 60, and 90cm depth were taken with a
drill before and after the irrigation. This water content value was
used for the calculation of the amount of irrigation water. Irrigation
was started at the end of the rainfall season. In each year, this
period started in the middle of June. In both the years, irrigation
was completed at the end of August, and no more irrigation was
performed until harvest (September 24th).
The water content measurements of the soil were made at 7-
day intervals during the growing season in three replications by
gravimetric sampling at 30-cm depth in increments up to a 120-
cm depth. The experiment was laid out following the randomized
complete block factorial design with three replicates for each treatment.
The spacing of plant rows and plant were 1.00 and 0.50 m,
respectively. Each plot had four plant rows, and the length of each
plot was 5m (20m2).