Studies on Improvement of Nutrient and Water Supply in Crop Cultivation on Sand Dune Soil

Abstract

Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill var. Houfuku) were cultivated in sand dune soil under the combinations of two fertilizer placements, i.e. “surface” and “bulk,” and two irrigation methods, i.e. “surface” and “drip.” The availability of the nutrients applied and the water use efficiency for dry matter production (WUE-D) and nutrient uptake (WUE-N) of plants were investigated. A drip irrigation method for the supply of the nutrient solution was compared with the above treatments. The surface placement brought about a high dry matter yield and nutrient uptake of plants only for surface irrigation. On the other hand, the bulk placement was favorable in the case of drip irrigation. Although the nutrient uptake was related to the dry matter yield, the coefficient of variation in nutrient uptake among the treatments, except for the nutrient-solution irrigation (DN), ranged from 52.7% for phosphorus to 30.5% for calcium. WUE-D and WUE-N were high in the case of surface irrigation-surface placement (SS) and low in the case of drip irrigation-surface placement (DS), that is, a better growth was accompanied with a higher WUE. The nutrient-solution irrigation brought about a high nutrient recovery rate and appears to be a suitable method for supplying nutrients and water in sand dune soil culture. Potassium movement in sand dune soil was related to sulfate movement, and calcium and magnesium movement to chloride.