Abstract
ABSTRACT The application of high level of fertilization and inadequate management of fertigation in tomato crop can promote increase of salinity of the solution, nutritional imbalance and physiological disorders in the plants, consequently reduces the productivity and the quality of the fruits. The aim of this study was to evaluate different fertigation strategies in growth and production of mini tomato plants cultivated with substrate in a greenhouse. The experimental design was in randomized complete blocks with four treatments and twenty replicates. The treatments corresponded to four fertigation strategies, as follows: T1 [(control) fertigation with leaching of 20%]; T2 fertigation throughout the day and irrigation at the end of the day with leaching of 20%; T3 irrigation with leaching of 20%, followed by fertigation in all activations of the irrigation system; T4 fertigation with leaching of 20% and reuse of the leached solution. Stem height and diameter, number of clusters, total and commercial fruit production, fruit size, fruit color, total titratable acidity, soluble solids content and fruit texture were evaluated. No significant differences were detected among the treatments in relation to the growth variables of the mini tomato plants. The strategies of fertigation tested do not influence significantly the growth of tomato plants. The T1 and T4 managements provide higher commercial production and fruits with higher content of soluble solids when compared with other management strategies evaluated. Considering the nutritional factor, we recommend to reuse the nutrient solution used in the tomato cultivation with substrate, correcting daily the electrical conductivity of the solution.
Highlights
A aplicação de elevado nível de adubação e o manejo inadequado da fertirrigação no cultivo de tomateiro podem promover aumento da salinidade da solução, desequilíbrio nutricional e desordens fisiológicas nas plantas, com conseqüente redução de produtividade e qualidade dos frutos
Os tratamentos corresponderam a quatro manejos da fertirrigação: T1 [(testemunha) fertirrigação com lixiviação de 20%]; T2 fertirrigação ao longo do dia e irrigação no final do dia com lixiviação de 20%; T3 irrigação com lixiviação de 20%, seguida de fertirrigação em todos os acionamentos do sistema de irrigação; T4 fertirrigação com lixiviação de 20% e reuso da solução lixiviada
Producers have been facing problems in cultivating minitomatoes mainly due to nutritional imbalance and physiological disorders of the plants, which frequently result in a decrease of productivity and, economic losses
Summary
A aplicação de elevado nível de adubação e o manejo inadequado da fertirrigação no cultivo de tomateiro podem promover aumento da salinidade da solução, desequilíbrio nutricional e desordens fisiológicas nas plantas, com conseqüente redução de produtividade e qualidade dos frutos. Producers have been facing problems in cultivating minitomatoes mainly due to nutritional imbalance and physiological disorders of the plants, which frequently result in a decrease of productivity and, economic losses The causes of these problems are mainly related to a high level of fertilizer application and to an inappropriate irrigation management, especially when cultivating the plants in pots (Furlani et al, 2013). Minitomato cultivation with substrate under different fertigation management strategies to conventional fertigation system (Alvarenga, 2013) Another proposed technique, when cultivating the plants in pots in greehouses, consists of applying an additional volume of nutrient solution which promotes drainage of part of the solution applied aiming to leach the excess of salts accumulated and avoid increasing salinity or cause nutritional imbalance of the plants (Katerji et al, 2003)
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