Ground water quality characterization and its correlation with wheat yield

Tube well water quality is the major contributing factor towards the low yield of crops in Pakistan, as it is not fit for irrigation in most of the areas. This is a survey study in which 100 water samples collected from farmer's tube wells were evaluated for their quality characteristics. The data depicted the average values of ECiw, SARiw and RSCiw corresponding to 1.93 plus minus 0.67 dS m-1, 12.2 plus minus 65.00 (mmol L-1)0.5 and 3.6 plus minus 1.96 mmol L-1, respectively. The range values noted for different water quality indications were 0.78 greater than or equal to ECiw less than 3.12 dS m-1, 2.57 greater than or equal to SARiw greater than or equal to 23.98 (mmole L-1)0.5 and 0.10 greater than or equal to RSCiw less than 7.10 mmole L-1. Within the conventional water quality indicators a significant correlation was found between SARiw and ECiw (r=0.84**) showing that SARiw is a function of total salinity in irrigation water. However, RSCiw and ECiw were not significa