Design and Performance of Subsurface Irrigation Using Porous Emitters for Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum, L.)

Abstract

This study aimed to design and implement a subsurface irrigation system using porous emitters of various materials such as bubblegum, flannel, cotton, and spandex. It was carried out using descriptive methods, namely designing, measuring, observing, calculating, and analyzing data quantitatively. The results showed that the soil conductivity ranges from 1.0 to 3.01 cm3/hour, and the flannel material transmitter has a maximum hydraulic conductivity of 4.681 cm/hour. The largest and smallest porous irrigation discharges were found in flannel and bubblegum materials, with values of 2.4 l/hour and 0.59 l/hour, respectively. Emitter flannel had the best absorption capacity of 1.9348 l/hour, and the growth of porous emitter plants had the highest values of 228.6 cm, 158, 133, and 92 for height, leaves, flowers, and fruit. The daily water requirement in the vegetative phase was 112.15 ml/day, and the flowering stage continued to increase by 211.95 ml/day, while the fruiting stage was 176.63 ml/day. Tomato water requirement decreased to 156.96 ml/day at the ripening stage, and irrigation application one day after the vegetative, flowering, fruiting, and vegetative stages required 118.33 ml/day, 141.30 ml/day, 194.28 ml /day, and 264.93 mm/day, respectively. Furthermore, subsurface irrigation produced flannel optimally to meet the needs of plant growth, had no surface runoff and water loss due to percolation, with efficient use of water, and can reduce or prevent salinization.