Irrigation Strategies for Greenhouse Tomato Production on Rockwool

Saha, Uttam Kumar; Papadopoulos, Athanasios P.; Hao, Xiying; Khosla, S.

doi:10.21273/hortsci.43.2.484

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The fruit were weighed using a digital balance with an accuracy of ±0.01 g, and individual fruit length and crosswise diameter were recorded using a Vernier calliper. All harvested fruit were graded into various marketable and non-marketable grades according to Ontario commercial standard [33]. Marketable tomatoes had three grades based on diameter: small (40 to 50 mm), large (55 to 75 mm), and extra large (>75 mm).…”

Section: Plant Performance and Water Use Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Efficiency of Wicking Bed Irrigation Systems for Small-Scale Urban Agriculture

2016

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A wicking bed (WB) is a plant driven system where plants receive water through capillary rise from a self-contained coarse material-filled subsoil reservoir. WBs have been widely promoted as a water-efficient irrigation solution for small-scale and urban food gardens. However, little published research exists to support popular claims about their effectiveness. In this study, the performance of WBs was compared with best-practice, precision surface irrigation in terms of water use efficiency (WUE), fruit yield, fruit quality and labour input, using tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) as the experimental crop. The influence of WB design variables (reservoir depths and soil bed depths) was tested. Results showed that WBs performed as well or better than precision surface irrigated pots, showing statistically significant improvement in WUE, yield and fruit quality. The results also suggest an optimum design exists for soil depth (where 300 mm outperformed 600 mm) but not reservoir depth (no difference between 150 and 300 mm). The WBs were more labour efficient, requiring significantly less frequent watering to achieve the same or better WUE. WBs are inherently low-tech and scalable and appear well-suited to a variety of urban agriculture settings.Horticulturae 2016, 2, 13 2 of 18 to rural water supplies for commercial horticulture [14,15]. There is therefore a great interest in the development of efficient irrigation systems which can secure urban water resources and provide urban gardeners with an economically efficient means of irrigation that is not technologically complex [16][17][18].Although improved practices exist for efficient crop irrigation in commercial farm management, there has been limited adoption of these techniques in urban areas due to the barriers of cost and knowledge to maintain them [18]. In urban gardens, the issues principally revolve around determining when and how much water needs to be applied to crops. For example, precision irrigation scheduling has been widely applied for efficient irrigation of large-scale monoculture crops. At the domestic and community garden scale, however, plants tend to be mixed and irrigation cannot be optimally scheduled to meet the needs of multiple crop water use patterns [19,20]. As a result, homeowners frequently apply more water than necessary, which leads to water loss as subsoil drainage [21]. Another major problem for urban growers is the labour invested in watering which may conflict with other activities [22]. In some regions, those interested in growing crops are not able to do so due to the presence of legacy contamination [23] or a shallow water table [24].Capillary wick irrigation has been investigated for some years as a method to deliver water to plants in container gardens [25]. Existing approaches include wicking mats, self-watering pots, and sub-irrigated planters [24,26]. The more recent "wicking bed" (WB) [27] has been characterized by a saturated media-filled reservoir beneath an unsaturated soil (root zone). Water is delivered by capillary acti...

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Section: Plant Performance and Water Use Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Efficiency of Wicking Bed Irrigation Systems for Small-Scale Urban Agriculture

2016

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“…Tomato fruit quality was evaluated using two parameters: fruit weight and diameter. Fruits were handpicked and graded into different marketable and non-marketable grades: small (40 to 55 mm), large (55 to 75 mm), and extra-large (>75 mm) [21]. Fruits that did not fit into the marketable grades above, as well as infected fruits (e.g., blossom end rot), were graded as unmarketable.…”

Section: Yield Fruit Quality Plant Growth and Water Use Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Reliability of Recycled Water in Wicking Beds for Sustainable Urban Agriculture

Semananda

Ward

Myers

2021

Earth

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Urban agriculture requires sustainable solutions to secure its water resources. A wicking bed (WB) is a simple system that could provide high yield and water use efficiency. This single trial glasshouse study compares the performance of a WB and surface irrigation (SI) system for growing tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using fresh (FW) and recycled water (RW). The performance of both treatments was compared when irrigating 2 days per week and for two environmental conditions (indoor and outdoor). In addition, the reliability of using FW and RW at a 7-day irrigation interval was studied for WBs alone. Results showed that the irrigation water use efficiency (kg/m3) and the yield (kg/plant) are significantly different only between WB (FW) and SI (RW) considering all conditions. The accumulation of salts and the sodium absorption ratio (SAR) were high in the surface layer of WBs compared to SI. This indicates that the use of RW affects the level of salinity and sodicity in soil, which in turn may decrease the yield. However, WBs perform similar to, if not better than, SI with FW. The WBs show the advantage of reducing the leachate of nutrients into groundwater, compared to SI systems. Further research into irrigation and nutrient management in WBs to reduce the effect of salinity at the surface is recommended to increase the efficiency of the system.

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“…Irrigation scheduling may have an impact on crop water productivity, affecting fruit yield and quality as well [76][77][78]. However, the targeted performance of a crop is largely situational; as irrigation might also be used as a tool for increasing water use efficiency, for maximizing yield or economic return [79].…”

Section: Monitoring Irrigation In Greenhouse Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irrigation of Greenhouse Crops

et al. 2019

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Precision agricultural greenhouse systems indicate considerable scope for improvement of irrigation management practices, since growers typically irrigate crops based on their personal experience. Soil-based greenhouse crop irrigation management requires estimation on a daily basis, whereas soilless systems must be estimated on an hourly or even shorter interval schedule. Historically, irrigation scheduling methods have been based on soil or substrate monitoring, dependent on climate or time with each having both strengths and weaknesses. Recently, plant-based monitoring or plant reflectance-derived indices have been developed, yet their potential is limited for estimating the irrigation rate in order to apply proper irrigation scheduling. Optimization of irrigation practices imposes different irrigation approaches, based on prevailing greenhouse environments, considering plant-water-soil relationships. This article presents a comprehensive review of the literature, which deals with irrigation scheduling approaches applied for soil and soilless greenhouse production systems. Irrigation decisions are categorized according to whether or not an automatic irrigation control has the ability to support a feedback irrigation decision system. The need for further development of neural networks systems is required.

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Irrigation Strategies for Greenhouse Tomato Production on Rockwool

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

Evaluating the Efficiency of Wicking Bed Irrigation Systems for Small-Scale Urban Agriculture

Evaluating the Efficiency of Wicking Bed Irrigation Systems for Small-Scale Urban Agriculture

Assessing Reliability of Recycled Water in Wicking Beds for Sustainable Urban Agriculture

Irrigation of Greenhouse Crops

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