Abstract
Processing tomato is one of the most important economic crops in Xinjiang, China, which was constrained with severe water shortage and extreme arid climate. Alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI) may provide an effective way to increase irrigation water use efficiency (iWUE) without yield reduction. However, limited studies concerned about applying APRI in processing tomato plantation have been done, especially combined with drip irrigation to further control the irrigation and improve iWUE. Therefore, the two-year pot experiments were conducted to study the effects of different irrigation treatments, including three APRI treatments (irrigation quota of 67.5, 51.6, and 43.7 mm, respectively), fixed partial root-zoon drip irrigation (FPRI, 67.5 mm) and conventional drip irrigation (CDI, 67.5 mm). The results indicated that APRI was an appropriate irrigation method in processing tomato plantation in arid desert area such as Xinjiang, as high irrigation quota of APRI (APRIH) significantly improved its yield without fruit quality reduction in comparison with those of CDI. However, the yield without fruit quality of FPRI significantly decreased. Even if the irrigation quota of APRI decreased to the medium level (APRIM, 51.6 mm), iWUE by increased 31.8–32.7% on the contrary, as irrigation water was saved by 23.6%; while keeping the yield and fruit quality. Therefore, APRIM is recommended for processing tomato plantation in arid northwest China, to increase plant growth, fruit quality, yield, and iWUE synergistically.
Highlights
Xinjiang is the largest processing tomato production place in China and ranks as the world’s third largest with the exporting proportion being more than 30% of global trade [1]
Due to the extreme water shortage and arid desert climate in Xinjiang, applying high-efficiency water-saving irrigation is critical to sustainable processing tomato production [3]
The results indicated that the high and medium irrigation quota of Alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI) had improved the quality of processing tomatoes to certain extents, and among them, medium irrigation quota (APRIM) showed better improvement
Summary
Xinjiang is the largest processing tomato production place in China and ranks as the world’s third largest with the exporting proportion being more than 30% of global trade [1]. Nowadays the annual planting area maintains stable which exceeding 46,667 hm2 [2], taking advantages of the sufficient solar radiation and illumination, the large temperature difference between day and night, and the high effective accumulated temperature in local area. These factors are beneficial for processing tomato growth and development, accumulation of dry matter, improvement of soluble solids and production of lycopene [1]. Water 2019, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW as dry, and switched with regulated pattern [4,5] Under this condition, the plants would response as partial stomatal reduced leaf initiation, expansion rates,asand transpiration efficiency without
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