ISHS Acta Horticulturae 458: International Symposium on Water Quality & Quantity-Greenhouse
ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL CONTROL OF DRIP IRRIGATION IN GREENHOUSES. THE RIGHT PARAMETER FOR CONTROLING IRRIGATION BY SOIL GROWN PLANTS |
| Authors: | M. Beck, U. Schmidt |
| Keywords: | irrigation, water, climatic control, computer, air humidity, vapour pressure, soil tension, tensiometer |
| Abstract:
It is important to irrigate at the right moment and with a water quantity that the plants can use and the soil can store. The water quantity depends on the water holding capacity of the soil, the soil moisture, the soil volume which is to be moistened and the soil type. The irrigation can be regulated either by climatic parameters or the soil moisture. Especially the irradiation sum is under dispute because the plant's water consumption differs throughout the crowing period. The irradiation sum is the usual climatic parameter and is easily established by using a luxmeter. This method optimizes only the growth of plants. The soil moisture and loss of water are not taken into consideration. At the Institute of Vegetable Growing the use of other climatic parameters such as vapour pressure deficit or vapour pressure difference (taking leaf temperature into account) have been investigated to see if there exists a better correlation to water consumption of the plants. The highest correlation by comparing the different methods is shown by using the soil moisture measured by tensiometers. Irrigation management using tensiometers to measure soil moisture takes the growth of plants into consideration. Also the water movement through the different soil layers can be established by using a number of tensiometers in different depths. | |
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