Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8

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Agricultural Water Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat

Responses of unheated greenhouse grown green bean to buried drip

tape placement depth and watering levels
Sefer Bozkurt a,∗ , Gulsum Sayilikan Mansuroglu b
a
Department of Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey
b
Department of Plant and Animal Production, Samandag Vocational School, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) is a professional water distribution system for improved crop water use
Received 29 January 2017 and conserving water. Selecting drip tape installation depths for different crops is the most critical deci-
Received in revised form 8 November 2017 sion with these systems. Hence, the aim of this research was to examine the effects of different SDI depths
Accepted 15 November 2017
and water amounts on the yield components and water use characteristics of green bean crop under
unheated greenhouse conditions during two crop-growing cycles. Three irrigation methods [Traditional
Keywords:
Drip Irrigation (DI), SDI at 10 cm soil depth (SDI10 ) and SDI at 20 cm soil depth (SDI20 )] and six irrigation
Subsurface drip irrigation
water levels (I) based on crop-pan coefficients (I20 :Kcp = 0.20, I40 :Kcp = 0.40, I60 :Kcp = 0.60, I80 :Kcp = 0.80,
Deficit irrigation
Buried drippers
I100 :Kcp = 1.00 and I120 :Kcp = 1.20) were evaluated. In each growing cycle, adequately watered crops (I100 )
Water savings were accepted as control. The seasonal evapotranspiration changed from 235 to 374 mm in autumn and
Greenhouse from 270 to 566 mm in spring season. Different placement depths of drip tape had significant effects on
Green bean green bean yields in spring growing cycle. Maximum yield (5.97 kg m−2 ) was obtained in SDI10 irrigation
Yield method. Irrigation water levels also significantly (p < 0.001) affected green bean yield in both growing
cycles. The highest yield (1.66 kg m−2 in autumn and 6.81 kg m−2 in spring) was obtained in I100 treat-
ment. SDI techniques improved Water Use Efficiency (WUE) and Irrigation Water Use Efficiency (IWUE).
The values of WUE and IWUE increased as the watering level was reduced. Maximum yield response
factor in DI method in autumn and spring seasons (Ky) was found as 0.96 and 1.66, respectively. Gen-
eral evaluation of the water management, crop yield components and growth variables showed that the
SDI10 I100 treatment appears to be the most favorable irrigation practice for the green bean grown under
greenhouse conditions. Water savings of up to 13% of seasonal irrigation water could be achieved using
SDI method.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction based on the growers’ experience and focused on maximizing yield

Greenhouses are used to provide and sustain a sufficient envi-
ronment for crops to obtain maximum yield in climate conditions
unsuitable for plant production. Greenhouse crop production is
widely practiced in many regions of the world, including in areas
with a temperate Mediterranean climate. Since the market value of
green bean (Phaselous vulgaris L.) is high compared to other vegeta-
bles, it is grown extensively in greenhouses. Green bean is produced
in the Mediterranean greenhouses in two short product cycles from
the early autumn to the end of spring (autumn–winter and spring).
In the region where all greenhouse crops are drip-irrigated and the
watering costs are relatively high, the irrigation practices are still
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sbozkurt33@gmail.com, sbozkurt@mku.edu.tr (S. Bozkurt),
sayilikan@mku.edu.tr (G.S. Mansuroglu).
and fruit quality regardless of the irrigation water consumption
(Gonzalez et al., 2009).
World green bean production is 21,365,000 t and Turkey ranked
fourth with the total production of 632,301 t based on the data
of 2013 (FAO, 2013). Irrigation management is very important in
green bean production because the application method and the
application program of irrigation water are crucial at all stages of
crop growing from sowing or transplanting to harvesting. For this
reason, sufficient water should be supplied to the crop in order to
ensure high quality and the highest productivity. In addition, it is a
necessity to provide water to the plants grown in the greenhouses
by irrigation since the plants have a high water requirement and
there is no other water inputs such as rainfall.
Despite decreasing water resources, increasing agricultural
water needs require more careful management of available water
resources. The drip irrigation method will continue to be important

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.11.009
0378-3774/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8
in the future with its water-saving benefits and contribution to the
environmental sustainability. It provides many unique agronomic,
water and energy conservation benefits that address many chal-
lenges seen in the irrigated agriculture (Patel and Rajput, 2007).
Moreover, the trend in recent years has been towards changing the
traditional surface Drip Irrigation (DI) to Subsurface Drip Irrigation
(SDI). SDI systems can apply irrigation water needed by the plants
directly to the root zone at low doses and short intervals to keep
ideal moisture conditions in the soil. They have significant advan-
tages compared to the conventional drip irrigation systems, such
as minimizing evaporation from the soil and preventing surface
runoff. Consequently, SDI is the most efficient water distribution
system to increase water use efficiency (WUE) and save water. On
the other hand, selecting drip tape installation depths for different
crops is the most critical decision in this irrigation method. It was
reported that increasing the depth of the drip tube resulted in yield
decreases in some plants and soil types. For instance, Marouelli and
Silva (2002) reported that the increase in the depth of the dripper
from 20 cm to 40 cm in tomato production in Central Brazil resulted
in a 32% yield reduction.
Another issue to be considered in the planning of irrigation is
scheduling. Irrigation scheduling is very important in the use of
drip systems as applying too much or insufficient water cause plant
stress and crop yield reduction. Evaporation pans can be success-
fully used to plan irrigation using appropriate pan (Kp ) and plant
(Kc ) coefficients (Sezen et al., 2006). This technique can efficiently
be used in irrigation programming by combining the two specific
coefficients (Kcp ). Different studies were carried out in this direc-
tion in the literature. For example, Sezen et al. (2005) examined the
effect of irrigation frequency and crop-pan coefficients in an open
field and obtained a highest green bean yield of 20,558 kg ha−1 with
a pan coefficient of 1.0.
As is known from previous studies, the most critical decision for
the SDI applications is the drip tape placement depth depending
on irrigation program and crop type. Experiments should be con-
ducted in both open fields and greenhouses because the conditions
of these areas are different. However, the studies are inadequate in
the literature on the application of SDI in the cultivation of green
beans in greenhouses.
In light of all these facts, the aims of this study were (1) to find out
the effect of irrigation water amounts on yield and quality of green
bean grown in greenhouse, (2) to determine the optimal placement
depth of drip tape and (3) to find out the relationship between
water use properties such as crop water consumption, water use
efficiency (WUE), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and yield
response factor of green bean in the Mediterranean coastal area of
Turkey.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental site conditions
A greenhouse research was carried out during two short crop
cycles (Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010) in the Research and Train-
ing Farm of Mustafa Kemal University, located in Hatay province,
Table 1
Some average monthly meteorological values in the experimental greenhouse.
Month Autumn
Tmax Tmin Tmean
October 38.4 19.2 27.0
November 26.2 19.0 20.0
December 23.1 11.0 16.1
January 22.7 11.6 15.2
T: Temperature (◦ C), RH: Relative humidity (%).
Turkey (latitude 36◦ 08 N, longitude 35◦ 54 E, altitude 10 m). Exper-
imental greenhouse with a 0.2 mm thick thermal polyethylene
cover had a size of 54 m length × 36 m width. The greenhouse was
not heated and side panels and roof vents were used for passive
ventilation.
The experimental site had typical Mediterranean climate con-
ditions. According to the data of the Turkish State Meteorological
Service (TSMS), long-term (1975–2009) annual mean, maximum
and minimum daily temperatures in the region were 19.0, 22.9 and
15.7 ◦ C, respectively. The mean relative humidity and annual total
rainfall were 75.3% and 902.9 mm, respectively. Climatic data of the
experimental greenhouse for the two growing seasons are given
in Table 1. Mean temperatures changed from 15.2 ◦ C to 27.0 ◦ C in
the autumn growing cycle and from 23.2 ◦ C to 29.9 ◦ C in the spring
growing cycle (Table 1).
For soil texture analysis with hydrometer method, samples were
collected at intervals of 30 cm from the surface to a depth of 90 cm.
The soil was deep clay loam comprising 43.0% sand, 20.3% silt,
and 36.7% clay. The bulk density of the soil was 1.49 g cm−3 and
available water holding capacity was determined as 223 mm in a
90 cm soil depth. The fertilizers with a total of 75 kg N ha−1 , 100 kg
P2 O5 ha−1 and 100 kg K2 O ha−1 were applied equally to all parcels
based on soil analysis results. Since the flowering and harvesting
periods of green beans are simultaneous and last about four to
five weeks, the nitrogen application was divided into two parts to
meet the requirements of the new pod formations. The fertilizers as
pure matter were applied at transplanting at a rate of 30 kg N ha−1 ,
100 kg P2 O5 ha−1 and 100 kg K2 O ha−1 while the remaining part of
the N (Ammonium nitrate, 33%N) was applied at the beginning of
the flowering and at the middle of the harvesting periods equally
by the fertigation system.
2.2. Experimental design
The experimental design was a split-plot with three replica-
tions. Each block contained three main plots with three drip tape
placement depth as irrigation methods [Traditional Drip Irriga-
tion (DI), Subsurface Drip Irrigation at 10 cm depth (SDI10 ) and
20 cm depth (SDI20 ) in soil profile] and six subplots irrigated
at different irrigation water (I) levels based on crop-pan coef-
ficients (I20 :Kcp = 0.20, I40 :Kcp = 0.40, I60 :Kcp = 0.60, I80 :Kcp = 0.80,
I100 :Kcp = 1.00 and I120 :Kcp = 1.20). In general, the green beans are
grown both from the seeds and from the seedlings in greenhouses in
Turkey. It is a common application to transplant seedlings in small
greenhouses as the bigger ones use seeds instead of transplanting.
In the current study, bean seeds were germinated in peat mate-
rial in viols and transferred to the greenhouse after two true leaves
emerged. The green bean seedlings of cv. Alman Ayşe were trans-
planted on 14 October 2009 in the first experimental crop cycle and
on 02 March 2010 in the second experimental crop cycle. Even if
Tuarira and Moses (2014) suggested narrower in-row planting dis-
tances (0.10–0.20 m) in green bean “seed” production in Zimbabwe,
it is widely accepted to plant this crop in wider in-row spacing in
greenhouse production due to fungal diseases caused by the high
humidity and low ventilation problem in the local greenhouses;
Spring
RHmean Month Tmax Tmin Tmean RHmean
52.9 March 34.6 13.3 23.2 50.9
58.1 April 33.7 13.7 25.2 54.4
61.3 May 32.9 16.5 26.3 57.7
57.9 June 34.1 17.6 29.9 55.1
 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8
therefore, the experimental plants were transplanted to a wider
distance of 0.30 m × 0.50 m on the subplots as suggested by Onder
et al. (2006). The subplots designed as 1.00 m apart from each other
had double crop rows with 0.5 m width and 12.0 m length (Fig. 1).
Traditional greenhouse green bean production techniques were
carried out for the other agronomic practices.
2.3. Experimental setup and methodology
The irrigation water obtained from a well had a C2 S1 quality
classification (USSL, 1954) with a pH of 7.9 and an average electri-
cal conductivity of 0.72 dS m−1 . For each plant line, a drip irrigation
lateral having in-line drippers with a spacing of 20 cm and having
a 2 L h−1 discharge rate was used. Drip tapes in the subsurface drip
irrigation treatment were buried manually to 10 cm and 20 cm soil
depths. Irrigation system had a central control unit combined with
a by-pass fertigation system. Water applications were controlled
by using manual valves and monitored using water meters. Soil
matric potential was monitored daily by using manual tensiome-
ters (Irrometer, Barcelona, Spain). Irrigation scheduling was carried
out based on soil water status of full irrigation (DII100 ) plot. Water-
ing was initiated when the reading of the tensiometer placed at a
depth of 30 cm in the soil approached to about 30 kPa.
The irrigation water amount (I) was calculated with the follow-
ing equation:
I = AEpan Kcp (1)
Where Kcp is the crop–pan coefficient, Epan is the total amount of
class A pan evaporation between two consecutive irrigation events
(mm) and A is the irrigation area (m2 ).
Daily evaporation in the class A pan was routinely measured
with a digital micrometer at 9 am. To minimize the effect of
soil water differences in different plots on the establishment of
plantlets in both crop cycles, the soil water was balanced to the
field capacity at 30 cm profile depth at the transplantation of plants
in all treatment plots.
Fig. 1. Details of the experimental plots used in the study (not scaled).
3
Seasonal measured evapotranspiration (ET, mm) was estimated
using soil water balance according to Jovanovic and Annandale
(1999) using following equation:
ET = P + I − R − Dr − Q (2)
The components of the soil-water balance are rainfall (P), irri-
gation (I), runoff (R) and drainage (Dr). Q represents soil-water
storage. All terms are expressed in mm.
Since the experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, there was
no precipitation (P). Because of the use of drip irrigation system, the
runoff (R) was assumed to be zero. Before each irrigation through-
out the season, the water content of the soil was determined by
gravimetric method in increments of 30 cm from the surface up to
90 cm depth. Mass soil moisture contents were converted to equiv-
alent depths using bulk density and layer depth. If available water
in the root zone (0–60 cm) and total applied water amount by irri-
gation were above the field capacity, it was assumed that the water
amount above field capacity leaked into the deeper soil zones and
this was called deep percolation or drainage (Dp or Dr: available
total water amount at 0–60 cm soil depth before irrigation + applied
irrigation water – field capacity) (Ertek et al., 2006).
2.4. Measurements and determinations
Green bean pods were hand-harvested 11 times in autumn and
14 times in spring period between the 40th day and the 90th day
after the transplanting in both production periods in the 6 m sec-
tions of the two adjacent rows in each plot. The harvest area in
each plot was 3 m2 . Yield parameters such as pod yield (kg m−2 ),
mean pod mass (g pod−1 ) and pod number per plant were deter-
mined in each factorial plot. The pod quality properties such as pod
width (PW), thickness (PT) and length (PL) were determined by a
digital micrometer for 20 green beans randomly selected from the
harvested beans in each subplot. The sampled beans were milled
to remove water and the total soluble solid content (◦ Brix) and
pH were determined in the juice of the bean pods with a refrac-
4 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8

Table 2
The total amount of irrigation water applied (I), seasonal crop water use (ET), green bean yield, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) for
Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010 crop cycles.

Factors Autumn Sprig

I (mm) ET (mm) Yield (kg m−2 ) IWUE (kg m−3 ) WUE (kg m−3 ) I (mm) ET (mm) Yielda (kg m−2 ) IWUE (kg m−3 ) WUE (kg m−3 )

DI I20 55 245 1.24 22.7 5.1 87 283 1.96j 22.4 6.9

I40 109 279 1.39 12.7 5.0 175 340 2.62ı 15.0 7.7
I60 164 299 1.46 8.9 4.9 262 410 3.50h 13.3 8.5
I80 218 343 1.64 7.5 4.8 350 465 5.90 cd 17.0 12.8
I100 273 358 1.53 5.6 4.3 437 533 7.00b 16.0 13.1
I120 328 370 1.47 4.5 4.0 524 566 6.20 cd 11.8 10.9

SDI10 I20 55 235 1.31 23.9 5.6 87 273 2.30ıj 26.3 8.4
I40 109 271 1.49 13.6 5.5 175 321 4.53g 25.9 14.1
I60 164 292 1.51 9.2 5.2 262 400 5.72de 21.8 14.3
I80 218 317 1.50 6.9 4.7 350 456 6.34c 18.1 13.9
I100 273 355 1.63 6.0 4.6 437 494 8.63a 19.7 17.5
I120 328 374 1.74 5.3 4.6 524 517 8.31a 15.8 16.1

SDI20 I20 55 240 1.31 23.9 5.5 87 270 2.31ıj 27.1 8.8
I40 109 280 1.54 14.1 5.5 175 328 3.24h 18.5 9.9
I60 164 322 1.75 10.7 5.4 262 396 4.93fg 18.8 12.4
I80 218 350 1.78 8.2 5.1 350 461 5.32ef 15.2 11.5
I100 273 361 1.82 6.7 5.0 437 466 4.80fg 11.0 10.3
I120 328 356 1.59 4.8 4.5 524 490 4.69g 8.9 9.6
Lateral depth ns 0.001
Irrigation Level 0.001 0.001
Interaction ns 0.001
a
Values within a column followed by different letters are significantly different at P < 0.001 using Duncan’s multiple range test. Note: I and ET values were calculated using
Eqs. (1) and (2), respectively.

tometer (N.O.W., Co., Model 507-I, Tokyo, Japan) and a pH meter,
respectively. Leaf area index (LAI, m2 m−2 ), leaf chlorophyll content
and above ground biomass (AGB, g plant−1 ) of the crop were also
determined at the last harvest time in each subplot. Leaf chloro-
phyll content was determined as descripted by Nageswara Rao et al.
(2001) using SPAD chlorophyll meter (SPAD-502, Minolta Corp.,
Ramsey, NJ, USA) on four plants per plot and three leaves per plant
(total of 12 leaves) and the average value was calculated. Placom
electronic planimeter (Model KP90N, Koizumi Mfg. Co. Ltd., Niigata,
Japan) was used for leaf area measurements of the plants that have
been removed for biomass measurements. The total leaf area of a
plant was multiplied by the number of plants in the area of a 1 m2
to obtain the LAI value.
In order to quantify the effect of the water stress on yield
reduction, it is necessary to drive the relationship between rel-
ative yield decrease and relative evapotranspiration deficit given
by the empirically-derived yield response factor (Ky) (Doorenbos
and Kassam 1979). The yield response factor (Ky) was determined
according to Doorenbos and Kassam (1979) using the Stewart
model:
(1-Y a /Y m ) = Ky(1-ETa /ETm )
Where Ya is the actual green bean yield (t ha−1 ), Ym is the maximum
green bean yield (t ha−1 ), ETa is the actual crop water consumption
(mm) and ETm is the maximum crop water consumption (mm).
In addition to these, in order to evaluate the productivity of the
irrigation water, total water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation
water use efficiency (IWUE) values were determined as follows.
WUE was calculated as the ratio between green bean yield (kg ha−1 )
and seasonal evapotranspiration (mm) while IWUE was calculated
as the ratio between green bean yield (kg ha−1 ) and total irrigation
water applied (mm).
2.5. Statistical analysis
A randomized split-plot design with three replications was used
with lateral placement depths as main plots and irrigation water
levels as subplots in the experiment. MSTAT-C statistical software
(Version 2.1) was used for statistical analysis. Duncan’s Multiple
Range Test was used at a probability of 0.05 to compare the mean
values determined in the experiment. Since the yield data between
the seasons were not homogeneous as shown by the homogeneity
tests, seasons were analyzed separately.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Irrigation, water use characteristics and yield
The use of Pan evaporation technique for estimating the crop
water requirement is a highly simple method that can be easily
practiced by farmers because it does not require complex data.
There have been various studies made in this direction for green
bean with different irrigation water applications in the litera-
ture. For example, Gencoglan et al. (2006), Sezen et al. (2008) and
Camoglu and Genc (2013) studied irrigation for field grown green
bean. In these studies, irrigation water levels varied approximately
from 260 to 680 mm depending on Kcp coefficients. Additionally,
Onder et al. (2006) and Buyukcangaz et al. (2008) studied the same
(3) crop under greenhouse conditions.
Table 2 shows the water use characteristics such as I, ET, WUE,
IWUE and yield values of green bean plants obtained in the current
study. I and ET values were calculated using Eq 1 and 2, respec-
tively. Same irrigation water amounts were applied to the three
drip tape placement depths as irrigation method treatments in the
study. However, seasonal irrigation water applied with time inter-
vals changing from 3 to 10 days differed from 55 to 328 mm based
on the Kcp coefficients in each lateral depth in the autumn crop
cycle. On the other hand, in the spring crop cycle, seasonal irrigation
water applied with intervals changing from 3 to 6 days varied from
87 to 524 mm (Table 2). Because of the higher evaporative demands
due to high temperature in the spring season, the amount of irri-
gation water calculated by pan evaporation was naturally higher
than the autumn season.
Amounts of crop water use were influenced by the irrigation
water level and drip tape placement depths in the experiment. Sea-
sonal crop water use differed from 235 mm in SDI10 I20 to 374 mm in
 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8 5

Table 3
Relationships among green bean yield, total irrigation water applied and crop water use in different drip tape placement depth treatments.

Autumn Spring

I DI YDI = − 0.00001I2 + 0.005I + 0.99; R2 = 0.89 YDI = − 0.00002I2 + 0.022I-0.26; R2 = 0.89

SDI10 YSDI10 = 0.0014 I + 1.27; R2 = 0.89 YSDI10 = − 0.00002I2 + 0.026I + 0.28; R2 = 0.96
SDI20 YSDI20 = − 0.00002I2 + 0.008I + 0.90; R2 = 0.97 YSDI20 = − 0.00003I2 + 0.025I + 0.27; R2 = 0.93
ET DI YDI = −0.38ET2 + 257.8ET-28063;R2 = 0.86 YDI = 0.018ET − 3.36; R2 = 0.90
SDI10 YSDI10 = 26.72ET + 7079.2; R2 = 0.92 YSDI10 = 0.024ET − 3.76; R2 = 0.94
SDI20 YSDI20 = − 0.36ET2 + 253ET − 26861;R2 = 0.82 YSDI20 = − 0.00008ET2 + 0.075E − 11.99;R2 = 0.93
Ky DI KyDI = 0.96; R2 = 0.92 KyDI = 1.66; R2 = 0.95
SDI10 KySDI10 = 0.74; R2 = 0.55 KySDI10 = 1.59; R2 = 0.90
SDI20 KySDI20 = 0.77;R2 = 0.88 KySDI20 = 1.29;R2 = 0.94

I: Irrigation water (mm); ET: Evapotranspiration (mm); Y: Yield (kg m−2 ); Ky: yield response factor

SDI10 I120 plots in autumn and from 270 mm in SDI20 I20 to 566 mm
in DII120 plots in spring season (Table 2). Similarly, Buyukcangaz
et al. (2008) reported drip irrigated green bean water use varying
from 47 mm to 582 mm in different treatments in greenhouse con-
ditions. Minimum ET values in our study were determined in I20
irrigation treatments in three irrigation methods in both seasons.
There was a significant linear relationship between the applied
water amount and the ET (R2 = 0.98 in DI, R2 = 0.99 in SDI10 and
R2 = 1.0 in SDI20 in autumn and R2 = 1.0 in DI, R2 = 0.99 in SDI10 and
R2 = 0.99 in SDI20 in spring). In both crop cycles, ET values increased
with higher Kcp coefficient for each drip tape placement depths.
However, the deeper the drip tapes were placed, the lower sea-
sonal ET values were obtained. In other words, because of the higher
evaporative potential of wetted soil surface than the drier one, DI
method had higher ET values than the SDI methods, which had
buried drip tape and had dryer soil surface in both experimental
seasons. Seasonal ET values in the SDI treatments were found to be
lower (8%-13%) than the DI treatment in the study. Similarly, Evett
et al. (2005) reported that the SDI limited the soil surface wetting
and could lead to an overall reduction in evapotranspiration (crop
water use) as much as 10%.
Different drip tape placement depths in spring growing cycle
had statistically significant effect on green bean yields. Highest
yield (5.97 kg m−2 ) was obtained in the SDI10 irrigation meth-
ods among all irrigation methods. This increase in yield may be
due to the better use of fertilizer by reducing the deep percola-
tion or volatilization losses compared to other two methods (DI,
SDI20 ). It might also be caused by the better water usage and bet-
ter soil-water-air combination with higher aeration of the root
zone than deeper lateral placement depth. It was reported by other
researchers that increasing the depth of the drip tube resulted in
yield decreases in some plants and soil types. For instance, Bryla
et al. (2003) found that faba bean production was higher when drip
laterals were located at 0.30 or 0.45 m than 0.60 m depth in Califor-
nia. Similarly, Marouelli and Silva (2002) reported that the increase
in the depth of the dripper from 20 cm to 40 cm for tomato in Central
Brazil resulted in a 32% yield reduction. Although, Gencoglan et al.
(2006) reported that irrigation amounts by Kcp did not significantly
affect yield in green beans, in the current study, different irrigation
water levels based on Kcp significantly affected the green bean yield
in both growing cycles. Considering only different water applica-
tion rates, the highest yield (1.66 kg m−2 in autumn and 6.81 kg m−2
in spring) was obtained in I100 treatment plots (data not shown).
Sezen et al. (2008) declared that yield of field grown green bean was
2.43 kg m−2 under Kcp = 1 level irrigation which equaled to full class
A pan evaporation. Combined effect of experimental treatments on
green bean yield was found statistically significant only in spring
season (P < 0.001) (Table 2). Maximum yields were obtained from
I100 (8.63 kg m−2 ) and I120 (8.31 kg m−2 ) irrigation levels in 10 cm
drip tape placement depth (SDI10 ) treatment. Therefore, it is rec-
ommended to irrigate greenhouse grown green beans with SDI10
treatment using a Kcp = 1 coefficient of class A pan evaporation.
Relationships among irrigation water applied (I), crop water use
(ET) and green bean yield (Y) were given for each drip tape place-
ment depth in Table 3. A significant polynomial relationship was
found between the yield and the irrigation water applied except for
SDI10 treatment in autumn growing season. Irrigation water versus
yield relationship showed that a reduction of 20% (87 mm) of irriga-
tion amount (I80 ) compared to full irrigation (I100 ) decreased green
bean yield by 26.5% (2.29 kg m−2 ) for SDI10 treatment. A similar
yield response versus varying irrigation amount was reported by
Gencoglan et al. (2006). Also, the yield of the I120 treatment was
found to be 4% (320 g m−2 ) lower than that of the I100 plot. This
might be caused by the poor water usage and poor soil-water-
air combination with lower aeration of the root zone caused by
excessive irrigation water in I120 plots.
Researchers often use the WUE and the IWUE values to evaluate
water productivity in crop production. In this study, the increase
of irrigation water in all three irrigation methods resulted in a
decrease in IWUE values. The lowest IWUE (4.5 kg m−3 in autumn)
and WUE (4.0 kg m−3 in autumn) values were determined in the
DI irrigation method which had the highest water application but
with the highest evaporation loss due to surface wetness. How-
ever, the highest IWUE value (27.1 kg m−3 in spring) was found in
the lowest water application plots in the SDI methods which had
relatively low evaporation loss due to embedded drip tapes. The
highest WUE value in the study was found as 17.5 kg m−3 in the
SDI10 I100 treatment (Table 2). It was observed that the SDI tech-
niques increased both WUE and IWUE values in the study. Also,
it was observed that the WUE and IWUE values in spring sea-
son were generally higher than the values of the autumn season.
Buyukcangaz et al. (2008) declared that the WUE values differed
from 26.46 kg m−3 to 32.44 kg m−3 and IWUE values ranged from
16.46 kg m−3 to 26.98 kg m−3 in their greenhouse grown green bean
experiment.
Green bean yield response factor (Ky) under three irrigation
methods was also determined in each season (Table 3). The val-
ues of Ky changed from 0.74 to 1.66 under different drip tape
placement depths in the experiment. Maximum Ky values were
found in DI method in autumn and spring seasons as 0.96 and 1.66,
respectively. The values of Ky factor in autumn season were lower
than the values of spring season. Doorenbos and Kassam (1979)
reported that the crop growth and yield were affected by the total
radiation received during the growing period and crops differed in
their response to how much of the total radiation received can be
converted into growth and yield and this difference has an impor-
tant effect on how efficiently water can be utilized by the crop.
The current research results showed that the green bean yield
showed less reduction based on the increased water deficit during
the autumn growing period which was received insufficient total
radiation compared to the spring period. Therefore, water man-
agement is more important in spring season in which the plants
are more sensitive to water deficit than the autumn growing peri-
ods. On the other hand, the deeper drip tape placement depths
6 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8

Table 4
Green above ground biomass (AGB), leaf area index (LAI) and leaf chlorophyll content under different irrigation methods and irrigation amount interactions for spring and
autumn growing cycles.

Factors AGB (g plant−1 ) LAI (m2 m-2) chlorophyll

Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring

*
DI I20 458.8p 735.0j 1.93 2.17h 35.67 37.05
I40 488.6n 955.8ı 4.63 3.84ef 30.63 37.17
I60 723.4h 1095.0hı 5.03 5.98b 25.33 36.62
I80 944.3a 1376.0fg 5.23 4.18e 26.50 40.93
I100 716.1ı 1791.0e 5.20 6.53a 24.83 36.43
I120 833.8g 2132.0c 3.97 6.24ab 27.47 37.00

SDI10 I20 458.8p 737.5j 1.93 2.14h 35.67 37.05

I40 609.8k 1326.0fg 3.83 2.28h 31.93 39.17
I60 554.0l 1435.0f 5.17 4.92d 30.00 35.75
I80 620.4j 2303.0b 4.40 6.07ab 29.33 37.92
I100 900.5b 1967.0d 3.07 3.37fg 25.13 37.10
I120 480.8o 2924.0a 4.17 5.96b 28.23 37.27

SDI20 I20 458.8p 734.0j 1.93 2.13h 35.67 37.05

I40 528.7m 1401.0f 4.47 4.72d 29.97 39.58
I60 839.9e 1417.0f 3.27 3.30g 30.07 41.07
I80 864.7c 1421.0f 4.70 2.86g 26.23 38.83
I100 834.9f 1309.0fg 5.40 5.44c 25.83 37.82
I120 863.7d 1240.0gh 5.00 3.85ef 23.20 37.43
Lateral depth 0.001 0.001 ns 0.001 ns 0.05
Irrigation Level 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 ns
Interaction 0.001 0.001 ns 0.001 ns ns
*
Values within a column followed by different letters are significantly different at p < 0.001 using Duncan’s multiple range test.

Table 5
Some characteristics (PT: Pod thickness; PW: Pod wide; PL: Pod length; Pwg: Pod weight; PN: Pod number) of the green bean pods under different irrigation methods for
autumn and spring growing cycles.
◦
Irrigation method Brix pH PT (mm) PW (mm) PL (cm) Pwg (g pod−1 ) PN (n plant−1 )

Autumn
DI 3.52 6.44ab 6.22 17.61 18.02b 8.47 38.97
SDI10 3.49 6.41b 5.59 16.86 17.66b 8.36 40.47
SDI20 3.71 6.47a 6.24 18.22 19.76a 8.91 41.26
Significance ns 0.05 ns ns 0.05 ns ns

Spring
DI 4.90b* 6.08b 6.35 15.70 18.79b 12.42b 100.2b
SDI10 5.23a 6.09ab 6.44 16.25 20.51a 14.64a 116.6a
SDI20 5.18a 6.13a 6.28 16.06 19.98ab 14.19a 84.49c
Significance 0.001 0.05 ns ns 0.05 0.05 0.001
*
Values within a column followed by different letters are significantly different at p < 0.001 using Duncan’s multiple range test.

resulted in lower Ky values in both seasons. There were several Ky Doorenbos and Kassam (1979) reported a Ky value of 1.15 and Sezen
values reported for the field grown green bean irrigated with tra- et al. (2005) as 1.23 and Buyukcangaz et al. (2008) as 1.07 for green-
ditional surface drip tape irrigation (DI) in literature. For instance, house grown green bean. In our experiment, DI methods gave the

Table 6
Some characteristics (PT: Pod thickness; PW: Pod wide; PL: Pod length; Pwg: Pod weight; PN: Pod number) of the green bean pods under different watering levels for autumn
and spring growing cycles.
◦
Irrigation level (I) Brix pH PT (mm) PW (mm) PL (cm) Pwg (g pod−1 ) PN (n plant−1 )

Autumn
I20 2.60b* 6.57a 5.37c 16.21c 17.09 7.17c 39.79
I40 4.02a 6.38c 6.16ab 17.31bc 18.13 8.44b 40.80
I60 3.44a 6.37c 5.83bc 17.18bc 17.86 8.34b 43.28
I80 3.84a 6.48b 6.72a 19.41a 19.93 9.12ab 40.18
I100 3.67a 6.44bc 5.94bc 17.29bc 18.88 8.77b 40.29
I120 3.87a 6.41bc 6.09ab 17.98ab 18.99 9.62a 37.07
Significance 0.01 0.001 0.01 0.05 ns 0.001 ns

Spring
I20 5.35ab 6.07 6.24b 14.39c 16.88b 9.75b 58.63e
I40 5.57a 6.11 6.97a 16.93a 20.00a 14.51a 84.03d
I60 5.04bc 6.08 6.21b 15.78b 20.08a 13.75a 93.14c
I80 4.94c 6.11 6.24b 16.24ab 20.66a 14.75a 114.0b
I100 4.72c 6.13 6.20b 16.41ab 20.34a 14.73a 129.3a
I120 4.98c 6.11 6.25b 16.27ab 20.60a 14.99a 123.4a
Significance 0.001 ns 0.05 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001
*
Values within a column followed by different letters are significantly different at p < 0.001 using Duncan’s multiple range test.
 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8
highest Ky value as 0.96 and 1.66 for autumn and spring seasons,
respectively. Similarly, Gencoglan et al. (2006) reported that the
Ky value was 1.55 for the field grown green bean irrigated with
subsurface drip irrigation.
3.2. Crop growth responses
Vegetative growth responses of the green beans to the experi-
mental treatments were also determined in the study (Table 4). The
above ground biomass (AGB) were affected by the drip tape place-
ments and watering levels in both seasons. Highest AGB value was
obtained from DI I80 (944.3 g plant−1 ) treatment in autumn and
SDI10 I120 (2924 g plant−1 ) treatment in spring season. Lowest AGB
values were found for the I20 water level treatments in all drip tape
placement depths in both seasons. While the AGB values showed
a steady increase from I20 to the I80 irrigation level, a similar trend
was not observed at higher water levels. This was thought to be
caused by a number of uncontrollable factors such as soil aeration
and the possibility of water and fertilizer leakage into the deeper
soil layer. This case, which was also evident in the leaf area index
(LAI) values, was more obvious in the autumn period than in the
spring. Treatments did not show any statistically significant effect
on LAI values in autumn season; however, in the spring season, sig-
nificant differences were determined among LAI values. Highest LAI
value (6.53) was obtained from DI I100 treatment plots. As in AGB
values, lowest values of LAI were found in I20 water level treatments
in all drip tape placement depths in spring season. As in a good
agreement with our study, Gonzalez et al. (2009) found that the
lower soil water matric potential values measured in the autumn-
winter green bean crop under restricted irrigation clearly lowered
the biomass compared to the well-watered one, but they did not
affect LAI or yield values. They also reported that the spring green
bean crop under regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) treatment created
a lower final AGB, a lower LAI and a lower total and marketable yield
than the well-watered crop.
In the present study, experimental treatments did not show any
statistically significant effect on leaf chlorophyll values of the green
beans in both seasons (Table 4). However, leaf chlorophyll values
in spring season were higher than the values of the autumn season.
3.3. Pod quality responses
As the green bean quality components, total soluble solids
(◦ Brix) and pH of pod juices, pod dimensions [pod thickness (PT),
pod width (PW) and pod length (PL)], pod weight (Pwg) and the
number of pod per plant (PN) were determined in the experi-
ment (Tables 5 and 6). The ◦ Brix values did not differ significantly
according to the irrigation method in the autumn season (Table 5).
However, those values differed under different irrigation water lev-
els in both seasons (Table 6). While the highest ◦ Brix value (5.23) of
the bean pod juice under different irrigation methods was found in
the SDI10 plots in the spring season, regarding the irrigation water
levels, the I40 irrigation level gave the highest ◦ Brix value as 5.57
in the same season. Therefore, higher water applications had nega-
tive effects on the ◦ Brix value of the pod juice. Similar results were
reported by Bryla et al. (2003) for faba bean. Irrigation methods and
water level treatments had significant effects on pH value of pod
juice in both seasons. While the highest pH values (6.47 in autumn
and 6.13 in spring) were found in SDI20 treatments (Table 5), the
I20 water level treatment resulted in the highest pH value in the
autumn season, on the other hand, I100 treatment gave the highest
pH value in the spring season (Table 6). Generally, deeper drip tape
placement depths resulted in less pH value in the spring season.
According to the seed company specifications, the variety of the
green bean used in the study has 20–25 cm pod length and 1.6 cm
pod width. However, Kar et al. (2005) found that this variety had
7
17.7 cm pod length, 1.26 cm pod width and 6.96 mm pod thickness
under unheated glasshouse conditions. In the current study, the
interaction effects of SDI depths and water amounts being the main
factors were not statistically significant. Therefore, only main factor
effects have been discussed. The pod thickness (PT) and pod width
(PW) as pod dimension properties were not significantly affected by
the drip lateral depths in both seasons (Table 5). However, the irri-
gation water level had statistically significant effects on those pod
values in both seasons (Table 6). Highest PT values were found in I80
plot as 6.72 mm in autumn and in I40 plot as 6.97 mm in spring sea-
son. Similarly, the highest PW values were found in I80 (19.41 mm)
plot in the autumn and in I40 (16.93 mm) plot in the spring sea-
son. It was observed that the irrigation methods had significant
effects on PL values in both seasons. The highest PL values were
found in SDI20 (19.76 cm) in the autumn and in SDI10 (20.51 cm) in
the spring season (Table 5). However, irrigation water level did not
have significant effects on PL values in the autumn season while
in the spring season, lowest water application (I20 ) had lowest PL
value (16.88 cm) and the PL values of the other water levels were in
same mean group (Table 6). Generally, adequate or higher irrigation
water amounts increased the quality of the green beans as reported
earlier by Sezen et al. (2005) and Buyukcangaz et al. (2008).
The Pwg and PN values were not affected by the irrigation meth-
ods in the autumn season but significantly affected in the spring
season (Table 5). The SDI10 irrigation method resulted in highest
Pwg (14.64 g) and PN (116.6 pod) values in the spring season. On
the other hand, irrigation water levels had statistically significant
effects on Pwg and PN values in both seasons except for the PN
values in the autumn season. The I20 irrigation water level had the
lowest Pwg values in both seasons (7.17 g pod−1 for autumn and
9.75 g pod−1 for spring) and lowest PN (58.63 pod plant−1 ) value
in the spring season (Table 6). The highest water application (I120 )
had the highest Pwg value (9.62 g for autumn and 14.99 g for spring
season) in the study.
4. Conclusion
The study results showed that the pan evaporation technique
was a suitable method for predicting the green bean water require-
ment in unheated greenhouse cultivation. The watering amounts
and drip tape placement depths influenced amounts of crop water
use. Water consumption values increased with higher Kcp coeffi-
cient in each drip tape placement depths. However, the deeper drip
type placement depths caused the reduction of seasonal ET values.
The study showed that water savings of up to 13% of seasonal irriga-
tion water could be achieved using subsurface drip irrigation (SDI)
method. Irrigation scheduling based on a Kcp of 1.0 (I100 ) is rec-
ommended for SDI10 , with 0.8 being more appropriate for 20 cm
or deeper drip tape placement depths because of the possible deep
percolation of soil water. Green bean yield was not affected statisti-
cally by drip line depths under unheated greenhouse conditions in
the autumn season; while, in the spring season, the yield was higher
with SDI10. To sum up, a general assessment of water manage-
ment, product yield, pod qualities and growth variables revealed
that SDI10 I100 treatment was the most appropriate irrigation strat-
egy for green beans growing under greenhouse conditions. The
results of this study could be applicable to any region where similar
greenhouse conditions exist.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Mustafa Kemal University, Scientific Research
Projects Office (MKUBAP-K) for their financial support (Project
Number: 01M0111) and to the anonymous reviewers for their
valuable comments on the manuscript. We also thank Dr. Muhar-
8 S. Bozkurt, G.S. Mansuroglu / Agricultural Water Management 197 (2018) 1–8
rem Keskin from the Department of Biosystems Engineering of
Mustafa Kemal University for his editing and proof reading of the
manuscript.
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