Influence of plant spacing and irrigation water quality on a cowpea-maize cropping system

The use of saline water, drainage water, and treated waste water in irrigation depends on long-term strategies that guarantee socio - economic and environmental sustainability of agricultural systems (Qadir and Oster 2004; Sharma and Minhas 2005; Lacerda et al., 2009; Leal et al., 2009; Murtaza et al., 2009). These management strategies for the salinity problem can be divided into two groups, non-specific and specific. Some of the non-specific strategies that have been used in saline conditions include the addition of organic matter, the application of liquid bio-fertilizers, the use of chemical fertilizers and amendments, mycorrhization, fol- 164 Int. Res. J. Agric. Sci. Soil Sci. iar applications of organic and inorganic substances, crop rotation, and increasing planting density (Mitchell et al., 2000; Ghafoor et al., 2008; Ould Ahmed et al., 2010)