Abstract
BackgroundHypoxia causes injury and yield loss. Soil aeration has been reported to accelerate the growth of plants and increase crop yield. The aim of this study was to examine growth response of greenhouse-produced muskmelon to 3 levels of sub-surface drip irrigation (I), 3 different installation depths of drip laterals in the soil (D), and 4 levels of supplemental soil aeration frequency (A). A fractional factorial experiment was designed to examine these treatment effects on marketable fresh fruit yield, leaf area index during 3 growth stages, and dry matter partitioning at harvest. In addition, we studied the response of fruit yield and dry matter of tomato to 2 levels of burial depths of subsurface tubing in combination with 3 frequency levels of soil aeration.ResultsResults showed that soil aeration can positively influence the yield, leaf area index, dry matter and irrigation use efficiency of the muskmelon (p < 0.05). The fruit yield of muskmelon and tomato were increased by 21.5 and 30.8% respectively with 1-d and 2-d aeration intervals compared with the no aeration treatment.ConclusionsThe results suggest that soil aeration can positively impact the plant root zone environment and more benefits can be obtained with aeration for both muskmelon and tomato plants.
Highlights
IntroductionWe studied the response of fruit yield and dry matter of tomato to 2 levels of burial depths of subsurface tubing in combination with 3 frequency levels of soil aeration
Our results showed that soil aeration had a positive effect on both muskmelon and tomato plant growth
Deeper drip tubing placement permits a wider range of mechanical cultivation practices but can induce O2 deficits in the wetted zone around the emitters especially for low-frequency, highvolume irrigation applications
Summary
We studied the response of fruit yield and dry matter of tomato to 2 levels of burial depths of subsurface tubing in combination with 3 frequency levels of soil aeration. Use of sub-surface drip irrigation under protective structures to produce high-value vegetables for the fresh food market is increasing in the semi-arid areas of Northwest China. These production technologies significantly improve water use efficiency compared to traditional spray or furrow irrigation systems [1,2,3]. High CO2 concentrations (at 2500 μL L− 1) or low (10% by volume) O2 in the root-
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