Abstract
In North Dakota, agriculture contributes a large sector of the state’s economy, but vegetable production is limited due to the state’s climate condition. Inadequate soil moisture and low soil temperature are the two major factors prohibiting quality produce and high-yield vegetable production. In this study, a soil-water potential, sensor-based drip irrigation system was developed, designed, and installed to evaluate its application on tomato and watermelon productions in a two-year field experiment in 2019 and 2020. The experimental treatments were drip irrigation and no irrigation under three mulches: black plastic, clear plastic, and landscape fabric mulches. Irrigation was scheduled at 8:00 am for watermelon and 9:00 a.m. for tomato, with the ability for each irrigation event to be bypassed based on the soil moisture conditions. Due to rainfall differences in the two years, irrigation was barely needed in 2019, but in 2020, drip irrigation was applied frequently. On average, for the two-years’ field experiment, the highest yield for tomatoes was obtained from drip irrigation under black plastic drip irrigation treatment with 40.24 Mg ha−1 in 2020, whereas the highest yield for watermelon was from drip irrigation under clear plastic mulch with 165.55 Mg ha−1 in 2020. The effect of mulch, irrigation, and combined practices were analyzed based on the average fruit weight and diameter, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and sugar content of the samples. The results showed that for watermelon, the average weight and diameter were significantly heavier and higher with irrigation treatments, but the EC and the pH values were significantly higher with mulch treatments. For tomatoes, the average weight, diameter, pH, and sugar content were all significantly higher with mulch treatment, but the EC was higher with irrigation treatment.
Highlights
Agriculture plays a large role in North Dakota’s (ND) economy and uses around89 percent of the state’s land [1]
Tomato and watermelon production are negligible when compared to the soybeans, wheat, corn, sunflower, and potato production
The two-year field experiment was conducted at a research farm located on the west side of the North Dakota State University (NDSU) campus in Fargo, North Dakota
Summary
Agriculture plays a large role in North Dakota’s (ND) economy and uses around89 percent of the state’s land [1]. North Dakota has a warm temperature in summer, cold temperatures in winter, and strong winds throughout the year. Soybean, and corn are the major crops grown in ND, but horticulture crops, such as vegetables, can be grown in this region though the yields and quality are limited due to low soil temperature in the root zone and lack of irrigation. Tomato and watermelon production are negligible when compared to the soybeans, wheat, corn, sunflower, and potato production. With only 63 and 30 farms for tomato and watermelon fresh market sale in 2017 and an average farm size less than 0.405 ha, the total areas were about 25 and 12 ha for tomato and watermelon productions, respectively, in North Dakota [2]. The possibilities to improve the vegetable productions are huge
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