Effect of blending fresh-saline water and discharge rate of drip on plant yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and quality of tomato in semi arid environment

Abstract

The use of alkali ground water constitutes a major threat to irrigated agriculture in semiarid parts of India. The entire arid and semiarid region in India is characterized by low rainfall and has the problems either of water scarcity or poor quality ground water and it can be better utilized for irrigation through drip irrigation system. An experiment was conducted on tomato crop at Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) Abohar, Punjab to study the effect of blending fresh and saline irrigation water on yield and quality. The good quality canal water (EC of 0.38 dS/m) and ground water (EC 19.5 dS/m) were mixed in ratio of 100% Fresh (F), 75:25 (Fresh: saline; F:S) and 50:50 (F:S). The irrigation was done through drip system with three discharge rates (1.2, 2.4 and 4.2 lph) at three irrigation levels of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0. The plant yield decreased significantly with increase in salinity levels of irrigation water (that is, increase in proportion of saline water). The maximum plant yield (3.55 kg/plant) was recorded with fresh water irrigation while 50% saline water blending in irrigation produced the lowest yield (2.64 kg/plant). The average yield decreased significantly when the discharge rate of emitters increased from 1.2 to 2.4 lph. The quality of tomato is observed inferior in saline water treatment compared to fresh water treatment. The TSS and acidity of tomato fruits increased with increase in the saline water ratios of irrigation water. As compared to 100% fresh water treatment, the mixing of 75% fresh and 25% saline water reduced tomato yield by 11% and gave a better quality tomato fruits at the discharge rate 2.4 lph and irrigation level 0.8. Hence, saline water can be utilized through drip system for sustainable yield and quality tomato production in water scarce area having poor quality ground water.

A Water-saving Irrigation Decision-making Model for Greenhouse Tomatoes based on Genetic Optimization T-S Fuzzy Neural Network

“…Water stress occurred throughout the growing season, and both dry matter content and sugar concentration are significantly increased during fruit ripening. Harmanto et al, [10] Singh et al [11] and other studies have reached the same conclusion. Based on the complexity and real-time of irrigation process, Chen et al [12] developed a water-saving irrigation management and decision support system software and made irrigation forecasts to determine the precise irrigation time and irrigation volume.…”

“…Based on previous researches [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], this paper combined fuzzy theory with neural network to make decisions for water-saving irrigation with T-S fuzzy neural network based on genetic optimization for greenhouse tomatoes. This method overcomes the problem of low accuracy in fuzzy system, and it has better effect than the system which only uses the artificial neural network (ANN).…”

“…The branches and leaves are not luxuriant enough, and their water requirement strength is still relatively small. In the fruit-setting and full fruit period, due to the dense foliage and the transfer of tomato from plant growth to reproductive growth, the water requirement increases [11]. The evapotranspiration of tomatoes increased at first and then decreased, and the maximum evapotranspiration of the tomatoes plants occurred in fruit setting period (highest on May 21).…”

Tolerance of melon cultivars to irrigation water salinity

“…Many studies indicate that sensitivity and tolerance of crops to the effects of water salinity may vary among species and cultivars of a same species, and also depend on the climatic conditions of the region, type of soil, method of irrigation, plant development stage, among others (Aragão et al, 2009;Dias et al, 2011;Nangare et al, 2013;Medeiros et al, 2014).…”

Effects of saline water and N levels on eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) fruit yield, water productivity, and nitrogen use efficiency by drip and surface flood irrigation

“…A study conducted by Farooq et al (2021) found that the highest level of nitrogen produced tomatoes with a higher number of fruits and greater fruit firmness under varying irrigation water salinities. On the other hand, Nangare et al (2013) observed that the interaction effect of salinity and nitrogen significantly increased the number of leaves and seedling dry weight.…”