Tomato fertigation in an open ground

Abstract

Obtaining high and stable yields of tomato with good consumer qualities in the open field has now become problematic due to the fact that hybrids and varieties of tomato of an intensive type place high demands on the presence of moisture and nutrients in the root-soil layer. The required level of soil moisture in combination with the introduction of calculated doses of mineral fertilizers during the growing season provides for obtaining the planned yields of vegetables, including tomato. The most important resource for the further development of agriculture in the Russian Federation is irrigated land. Volgograd region is one of the largest irrigated agricultural regions in Russia. Growing of almost all vegetables in the region is conducted on irrigated lands. The use of only one irrigation without the use of fertilizers will not have a positive impact on the growth, development and productivity of plants. Fertigation is the most effective and economical way of delivering nutrients to the plant root system and allows to get a higher yields than other methods of fertilizer application. In fertigation systems, the control of optimal concentrations of fertilizers is easily achieved, their ratio and these parameters can be controlled automatically. The purpose of this work was to study the comparative efficiency of ammonium nitrate, calcium nitrate and a combination of calcium nitrate and ammonium chloride for tomato fertigation in combination with non-root dressings of complex water-soluble fertilizers containing macroand microelements in open feild on irrigated lighchestnut soil of dry steppe zone of chestnut soils in the Volgograd region. As a result, analysis of the use of mineral fertilizers for tomato fertigation in light chestnut soils of the Volgograd region was carried out. The positive effect of foliar dressing with microelements in the proposed dosages has been proven.