ISHS Acta Horticulturae 659: VII International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climates: Production, Pest Management and Global Competition
CLIMATE CONTROL IN THE SUMMER SEASON: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXTERNAL MOBILE SHADING AND FOG SYSTEM |
| Authors: | P. Lorenzo, M.C. Sánchez-Guerrero, E. Medrano, M.L. García, I. Caparrós, G. Coelho, M. Giménez |
| Keywords: | Greenhouse, mobile shade screen, fog system, vapour pressure deficit, substrate, tomato, WUE, salinity, BER. |
| Abstract:
Climate control in protected crops has been considered as a strategy to mitigate the harmful effect of the use of irrigation water of moderate salinity. This study conducted a comparative evaluation of the effect of two climate control systems, external mobile shading and fog, on the greenhouse climate and yield of a tomato crop grown on perlite substrate irrigated with two nutrient solutions of different salinity: LEC 3 dS m-1 and HEC 5 dS m-1. The adopted set points to manage the mobile shading system resulted in a 20% reduction of the incident radiation on the canopy. Marketable yield of the LEC treatments was statistically similar in both systems, 15.2 kg m-2 and 15.4 kg m-2 for mobile shading and fog respectively, while under HEC and shading conditions yield was 11.6 kg m-2, higher than the 8.1 kg m-2 obtained with the fog system. This is due to a reduction of the BER (Blossom End Rot) incidence in the shaded treatment. The mobile shading increased water use efficiency (WUE) in both treatments by reducing the crop transpiration rate, especially in the high salinity treatment associated also to higher commercial yield. | |
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