Effects of deficit irrigation and fertigation on the performance of tomato crop grown under a plastic tunnel | |
| Author | Younas, Muhammad |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WM-20-08 |
| Subject(s) | Crops--Water Requirement Tomatoes--Growth Irrigation--Management Fertilizers--Application Microirrigation |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineeing in Water Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The basic need to make accessible fresh and good quality products for prolonged time throughout year lead to the implementation of using greenhouse technology, so protected cropping system has become a very popular production system in Agriculture especially nowadays in Pakistan. Evaluation of crop’s growth, yield, and water productivity and irrigation system became essential. The major objectives of the research are to assess the effects of deficit irrigation and fertigation on growth and yield of tomato grown under plastic tunnel, and assessment of water productivity of tomato inside the plastic tunnel. To accomplish these goals, an experimental study was performed on sandy loam soil, and ANNA variety of tomato through drip irrigation system having emitter flow rate of 1.2 lph in the agricultural farm situated in District Sahiwal. The experimental study was carried out on complete randomized design (CRD) with two replication having nine treatments with different irrigation and fertigation levels i.e. three irrigation levels (100%, 85% and 75% of ETc) in which each irrigation level was treated with three fertilizer levels (100%, 85% and 75%RDF) and additional control treatment (farmer practice) in 10 November 2019 to 25 February 2020. A set of measurements were observed related to crop growth, crop production and water productivity. Furthermore, the calibration and validation of AquaCrop model for canopy cover and soil water content were performed. The statistical results revealed that deficit irrigation and fertigation doses showed positive effect on the growth and production of tomato. Among all the treatments, T5 (W85% ETc F85% RDF) was perceived to be more appropriate as it took fewer days for the completion of first flowering (28 DAT), fruit setting (52 DAS), gave a greater number of fruits/plant (22.55), highest yield (93.65 t/ha). While, treatments under full irrigation and control showed inadequate results in growth and yield components, but growth was slightly higher than deficit treatments during fruit development. Similarly, Water productivity (36.94 kg/m3) was found higher under deficit irrigation. While, full irrigation and control treatments showed inadequate results regarding the water productivity. On the basis of results, irrigation and fertigation plan, 85%ETc and 85%RDF was found suitable for sandy loam soil for potential growth, yield, water productivity and water use efficiency of tomato grown under plastic tunnel by using drip irrigation System. Calibration and validation of AquaCrop was done for canopy cover and soil water content. Where one replication of a treatment was used for calibration whereas second replication of same treatment was used for validation. Keywords: Tomato crop, plastic tunnel, drip irrigation, deficit irrigation and fertigation, growth, yield, water productivity, AquaCrop. |
| Year | 2020 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Engineering and Management (WM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shanmugam Mohana Sundaram |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shrestha, Sangam;Babel, Mukand Singh;Datta, Avishek |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | World Bank;Punjab Agriculture Department, Pakistan |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2020 |