ISHS Acta Horticulturae 247: Research and Development Conference on Vegetables, the Market and the Producer
IRRIGATION SCHEDULING OF SUBSURFACE DRIP-IRRIGATED SALAD TOMATOES |
| Authors: | C.A. Lindsay, B.G. Sutton, N. Collis-George |
| Abstract:
Soil water status, either measured directly or predicted using climatic data and crop water use models, is of primary importance for irrigation scheduling. Direct measurement of soil water in drip irrigation systems is influenced by the moisture distribution, unlike predictive techniques which estimate an average field soil moisture content. The experiment discussed in this paper evaluates four methods of measuring or predicting soil moisture status for use in scheduling irrigation of subsurface drip irrigated tomatoes grown under commercial conditions. The methods used were: (1)tensiometers, (2)neutron probe, (3)Edmonton evapotranspiration model (derived from an ealier model Collis-George (1972), and (4)evaporation pan and crop coefficient. There was no significant difference in the total fruit yield between the methods, even though the direct measurement methods required significantly less water than the indirect prediction methods. | |
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