Regulation of tomato yield and fruit quality by alternate partial root-zone irrigation strongly depends on truss positions

Zhenzhu Yao, Xuemin Hou, Yu Wang and Taisheng Du

Agricultural Water Management, 2023, vol. 282, issue C

Abstract: Yield and fruit quality of greenhouse tomatoes vary in response to alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI). However, little is known about whether and how these responses differ in different trusses in a multi-truss tomato production system. This study investigated the response of fruit yield and quality of five trusses indicated as T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 from the bottom to the top canopy, to irrigation method (conventional irrigation, IC and alternate partial root-zone irrigation, IA) and irrigation volume (full irrigation, W0; 2/3 full irrigation, W1; and 1/3 full irrigation, W2) in a two-year greenhouse trial in the arid region of northwest China. Results showed that both commercial fruit and non- commercial fruit yields decreased from T1 to T5 across all treatments. Under W1, IA significantly increased single fruit weight (SFW) at T5 by 16.81 %− 17.31 % and no significant effect on N compared to IC in both years but other trusses had no significant responses. Under W2, IA significantly decreased NCF yield in T2-T5 compared to IC without significant effect on CF yield and the decrease tended to become larger as truss position increased in 2018–2019, while such pattern was not observed in 2019–2020. Lycopene content (LYC) increased from T1 to T5 by about two-fold. LYC were higher under IA than under IC regardless of irrigation amounts and trusses in both years even though the increase was not statistically significant in some cases. Color index (CI), firmness (Fn), reducing sugars (RS), organic acids (OA), sugar to acid ratio (SAR) and vitamin C (VC) also demonstrated truss-specific responses to irrigation treatments. The response of tomato yield and fruit quality to irrigation treatments differed significantly among trusses and these differential responses must be considered when applying APRI for effective irrigation scheduling in multi-truss tomato production.

Keywords: Multi-truss greenhouse tomato; Deficit irrigation; Irrigation method; Commercial fruit; Lycopene (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:282:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423001531

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108288

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