Changes in yield of tomato irrigated with salty water varied by soil properties and irrigation practices: A meta-analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT It has been extensively investigated whether salt water can be used as an alternative water resource for irrigation in tomato production due to the increasing freshwater scarcity. Changes in tomato yield under salt water irrigation were variable, ranging from −96.8% to 36.2%. Thus, a meta-analysis was performed by collecting 988 paired comparisons from 69 articles to draw a quantitative summarization that there was a significant negative effect of salt water irrigation on tomato yield with a grand mean decrease of 27.8%. Compared to the control, tomato yield significantly reduced by 39.0% on average following saline water irrigation (SI), significantly higher than that under brackish water irrigation (BI). Medium soil is the most suitable place to apply salt water for irrigation. BI performed best in alkali soil, while following SI higher tomato yield was obtained in non-alkali soil. There was a trend whereby decreased soil bulk density and soil salinity led to smaller reduction in tomato yield regardless of irrigation water salinity. Applying local irrigation or discontinuous irrigation was more possible to achieve higher tomato yield under salt water irrigation. These findings can provide a reference for developing rational salt water irrigation policies in tomato production.