ISHS Acta Horticulturae 278: Symposium on Scheduling of Irrigation for Vegetable Crops under Field Condition
THE INFLUENCE OF THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF TOMATO PLANTS ON THE WATER USE EFFICIENCY |
| Authors: | J.J. Oertli, P.S.J.W. Seresinhe, R. Ruh |
| Abstract:
The influence of the nutritional status of tomato plants on the water use efficiency was studied under controlled environmental conditions in sand cultures at three nutrient levels. At high fertility levels, the dry matter production and the fruit yield were higher than for plants grown with low fertility. The nutrient level had little effect on the evapotranspiration per plant. At the best nutritional conditions about 8 g of biomass were produced per liter water consumed. At the next lower nutrient level, the water use efficiency (WUE) was only half of that and at the lowest nutrient level only one fifth. These differences in WUE are caused by an effect of nutrition on the biomass production and not on the water use per plant. Blooming and fruit set were two to three weeks earlier under best nutritional conditions. Leaf water potentials were most negative at the highest fertility level but due to a higher osmolality of the expressed leaf sap apparent turgor pressures were nevertheless higher. The increase of foliar macronutrient concentrations with improved fertility was less than the increase in biomass. Our results confirm that most economic use of water is made by sound irrigation practices and balanced fertilizer applications. | |
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