Irrigation management for double-cropped fresh-market tomatoes on a high-water-table soil

Camp, C.R. and Robbins, M.L. and Karlen, D.L. and Sojka, R.E. (1992) Irrigation management for double-cropped fresh-market tomatoes on a high-water-table soil. Transactions of the ASAE. 34(6):2445-2452.

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Abstract

Two tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum, Mill.)
experiments were conducted for two years on a southeastern
Coastal Plain soil that has a high, fluctuating water
table. In one experiment, two methods for managing
microirrigation were compared to a treatment that received
only rainfall by measuring marketable fruit yields for
spring and fall cropping seasons. Irrigation increased yields
for both seasons in the second year because of low rainfall.
Measurements among seven shallow wells on the site
showed no consistent differences for either water table
depth or gradient between adjacent wells. Two cultivars
were evaluated in the second year, primarily because frost
severely damaged the tomato plants about three weeks
after transplanting. In the second experiment, two
excessively irrigated treatments were evaluated in an effort
to induce a "soft-fruit" storage and shipping problem
experienced by many growers in this region. Although
extremely large quantities of irrigation water were applied,
these symptoms were not observed in this study. There
were no differences in fruit yield between the two water
management treatments in either spring or fall. Fruit
quality measurements showed no significant differences.
The 'Sunny' cultivar performed better than 'Walter' during
the fall season for the extremely wet soil condition. A
double-crop, microirrigation management system has
higher input costs but provides increased profitability for
fresh-market tomato production, particularly where
markets are available for both spring and fall crops.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0761
Subjects:	Mass Import - unclassified
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:53
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2016 17:27
Item ID:	569
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/569