Optimization of Water-Nitrogen-Salinity Management for Improving Yield, Quality, and Resource Use Efficiency of Pigment Pepper Under Brackish Water Irrigation in Arid Regions.

Brackish water utilization provides an alternative strategy for alleviating freshwater scarcity in arid agricultural regions; however, the synergistic regulation of salinity, irrigation, and nitrogen management remains unclear. A two-year field experiment was conducted in 2025 and 2026 to investigate the effects of water-nitrogen-salinity interactions on growth, yield formation, resource use efficiency, and fruit quality of pigment pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) under arid conditions in Xinjiang, China. An L9(33) orthogonal experimental design was adopted with three levels of brackish water salinity, irrigation amount, and nitrogen application rate. The comprehensive production performance of different management strategies was further evaluated using a combined weighting Cloud-TOPSIS approach. The results showed that water-nitrogen-salinity interactions significantly regulated pigment pepper growth, yield formation, and resource utilization, with consistent responses observed across the two experimental years. Increasing irrigation water salinity reduced leaf chlorophyll content (CHL) and nitrogen balance index (NBI), whereas flavonoid content (FLAV) exhibited an increasing trend under moderate salinity stress. Low-salinity irrigation combined with appropriate water and nitrogen inputs maintained higher photosynthetic capacity and nitrogen nutritional status. Yield, water use efficiency (WUE), and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) were jointly affected by salinity, irrigation, and nitrogen supply. Excessive salinity significantly reduced crop productivity, while optimized irrigation and nitrogen management alleviated salt stress effects. The T2 treatment (1 g L-1 salinity, 2400 m3 ha-1 irrigation, and 300 kg ha-1 nitrogen application) achieved the highest yield and maintained favorable WUE and PFPN values in both years. Fruit quality responses demonstrated that moderate salinity promoted capsaicinoid accumulation, whereas excessive salinity restricted biomass production and quality improvement. Correlation analysis revealed that photosynthetic nitrogen metabolism indicators were closely associated with yield formation, while flavonoid accumulation showed stronger relationships with quality attributes. The Cloud-TOPSIS evaluation identified T2 as the optimal management strategy under the experimental conditions by balancing yield, quality, and resource use efficiency. These findings indicate that coordinated regulation of irrigation water salinity, water supply, and nitrogen input is essential for achieving efficient brackish water utilization and sustainable pigment pepper production in arid regions.