N. DINEV and I. MITOVA
Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection «N.Poushkarov», BG – 1080 Sofia, Bulgaria
DINEV, N. and I. MITOVA, 2014. Yield and quality of parsley depend on water quality. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 337-341
Food safety crop production depends largely on soil characteristics. Relatively little has studied the problem of the quality of irrigation water. The purpose of this paper is to establish the influence of nitrate contaminated irrigation water on production of parsley. In a greenhouse pot growing experiment with soil (Chernozem-smolnitza) it was investigated the effect of irrigation water taken from natural wells. Four increasing levels of nitrate 16.4, 77.1, 184.3 and 320.5 mg.L-1 (at permissible level of 50 mg.L-1) were used Changes in nitrate content (ranging from the first cut from 20.1 to 1970 mg.kg-1), adequate to the concentrations of nitrates of water and declining over time were found. Content of sugars and solids in three cuttings are discussed. Parallel trend of nitrate concentration and pigment content in leaves is shown. The results provide specific recommendations for the safety of products of parsley and control of soil quality at nitrate-enriched water, used for irrigation.