ABSTRACT
FAWZI SAID MOHAMMAD, HUSSEIN MOHAMMED AL-GHOBARI, and MOHAMED SAID ABDALLA EL MARAZKY
8.1 Introduction .................................................................................. 274 8.2 Materials and Methods ................................................................. 276 8.2.1 Experimental Site ............................................................. 276 8.2.2 Field Layout and Evaluation of Irrigation Practices ........ 277 8.2.3 Components and Installation of the
Smart Irrigation System ................................................... 279 8.2.4 Performance Parameters for Drip Irrigated Tomato ......... 280 8.2.5 Estimation of Operation Time .......................................... 281 8.2.6 Agronomic Practices ........................................................ 283 8.3 Results and Discussion ................................................................ 284 8.3.1 Tomato Evapotranspiration (ETc) .................................... 284 8.3.2 Irrigation Management ..................................................... 285
8.3.3 Agronomical Characteristics ............................................ 287 8.3.4 Water Use Efficiency ........................................................ 288 8.3.5 Statistical Analysis of Agronomical Factors .................... 290 8.4 Conclusions .................................................................................. 291 8.5 Summary ...................................................................................... 291 Acknowledgments ................................................................................. 292 Keywords .............................................................................................. 292 References ............................................................................................. 293
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) are an important global vegetable crop [4], and require a high water potential for optimal vegetative and reproductive development [34]. Production areas are typically intensively managed with high inputs of fertilizer and irrigation. Planting tomatoes in Saudi Arabia accounted for 13% of the total land planted with vegetables in 2008 [24]. Tomato is one of the most important vegetables because of its special nutritive value, and is the world’s largest vegetable crop after potato and sweet potato. Considerable quantities of irrigation water are required, depending on the soil and weather conditions. To reduce the total amount of irrigation water needed by a tomato crop without affecting the yield and fruit quality, the grower must develop management strategies. To achieve better control and management of water in tomato production, irrigation schedules should be based on crop water requirements according to FAO guidelines [1, 8]. Another approach is the development of a daily water balance to calculate ETc and to schedule irrigation events according to effective soil water storage capacity and estimated crop water removal [13, 14].
