Abstract
An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of processing tomato in an arid climate. The results showed that crop yields of processing tomato were significantly (p<0.05) 11.0%~60.0% higher in the fully irrigated plots than RDI treatments except that subject to low level of RDI at seedling. When subject to RDI fruit number per plant, fruit weight, fruit longitudinal diameter and transverse diameter were the main components contributing to yield increase of processing tomato, while decayed fruit number was the key factor restraining tomato yield improvement. The WUE of processing tomato was significantly improved by 13.4% in RDI plants subject to low water deficit at seedling compared to full irrigation, but no difference (p>0.05) existed between fully irrigated crops and RDI plants subject to water deficit at seedling or late fruiting. However, in comparison with fully irrigated crops WUE was significantly reduced by 16.3%~23.3% in RDI plants subject to water deficits respectively at flowering and full fruiting as well as subject to high water deficit at late fruiting. Therefore, low level of RDI at seedling while full irrigation during flowering to late fruiting could be applied to effectively improve yield and WUE of processing tomato in arid areas.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
