Tomato fertigation with dairy cattle wastewater

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of wastewater in the fertigation of agricultural crops increases productivity and product quality, and contributes to reduce environmental pollution. In this work, the objective was to evaluate how the use of dairy cattle wastewater (DCWW) in the fertigation of tomatoes affected production and productivity, as well as foliar nutritional contents, in an organic farming system. Treatments consisted of six nitrogen doses (0, 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400%), having N recommendation for tomato (100 kg/ha) as reference, applied using DCWW via fertigation. DCWW is made up of washing water, urine, feces and milk. Stem diameter, branch length, weekly fruit yield per plant and aggregate productivity were evaluated. N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn and B foliar contents were quantified. Data were submitted to analysis of variance (p≤0.05) and, where significant, polynomial regression models were applied. Treatment means were compared by the Tukey test (p≤0.05). The highest production, productivity and nutrient foliar accumulation were observed when 400% of the N dose recommended for tomato was used. There was an increasing linear effect on weekly and aggregate yield and also on nutrient accumulation in leaves as function of the applied N dose. N fertilization in tomato organic production can be carried out using DCWW via fertigation, but with a complementary mineral fertilization to supply plants with adequate amounts of phosphorus and potassium.