ISHS Acta Horticulturae 761: XXVII International Horticultural Congress - IHC2006: International Symposium on Advances in Environmental Control, Automation and Cultivation Systems for Sustainable, High-Quality Crop Production under Protected Cultivation
CONTROL OF NUTRIENT SOLUTION SUPPLY TO TOMATO PLANTS GROWN IN A SOILLESS CULTURE SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR USE ON SLOPING LAND |
| Authors: | T. Higashide, T. Ibuki, Y. Kasahara, T. Kinoshita |
| Keywords: | hillside field, hilly and mountainous area, saving cost, sloped greenhouse, solar radiation, rain shelters, yield |
| Abstract:
To avoid some problems in hillside fields, we developed a soilless culture system suitable for use on sloping land. To save costs of installing and running the system, fertilizer injection and supply of nutrient solution to the plants were powered by water pressure only. We investigated the effects of installing a soilless culture system and a sloped greenhouse on tomato production on a hillside field. Between 2002 and 2005, we compared tomato cultivation using a sloped greenhouse and a soilless culture system with the conventional rain shelter growing. Experiments were conducted in a sloped greenhouse belonging to tomato growers in the Shikoku area, Japan. The greenhouse was built on a 4–20° ground slope, about 300–360 m above sea level. The higher temperatures in the sloped greenhouse, during the early spring and autumn, allowed earlier planting dates and longer harvesting season and cycle of the tomato crop than in the conventional rain shelter. Tomato plants (‘Momotaro 8’ and ‘Momotaro fight’) were transplanted from the end of April to the beginning of May in the sloped greenhouse, and from the end of May to the beginning of June under the conventional rain shelters. Obviously, tomato yields in the sloped greenhouse with the soilless culture system were much higher, due to the longer cycle, than those under the conventional rain shelters. We also investigated a reasonable substrate and method to control the nutrient solution supply to tomato plants grown in the soilless culture system. Two kinds of bark and rockwool were used as substrates of the system. There were no significant differences in the yields in each substrate. We compared two methods of controlling the nutrient solution supply. As one method, solution was supplied whenever the cumulated solar radiation reached a set point. As the other method, solution supply was controlled by 24 h time switch. Fruits yields were also the same between the two methods of controlling supply. That nutrient solution supply of our soilless culture system could be appropriately controlled by only a time switch. | |
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