Evapotranspiration of mid-early tomatoes depending on the applied irrigation regime

Radost Petrova, B. Harizanova-Petrovа

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to determine the values of the seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) of mid-early tomatoes when applying an optimal and deficit irrigation regime and to determine the water use efficiency (WUE). A field experiment was conducted with mid-early tomatoes, variety “Nikolina F1”, in the period 2017-2018 on the territory of the Educational and experimental field at the Agricultural University - Plovdiv. The experiment was carried out in 4 repetitions by the method of long plots. The following options were tested: 1) optimal irrigation at pre-irrigation humidity 85% of FC, valid for the 0-50 cm layer; 2) irrigation with 75% of the irrigation rate compared to var.1; 3) irrigation with 50% of the irrigation rate compared to option 1. The plants are planted on a flat bed in a two-row strip according to the scheme 90+50x50 cm. Irrigation was carried out by means of a drip system with built-in drip generators with a distance between them of 25 cm and a flow rate of 2 l/h. The total values of evapotranspiration have been established, and with optimal irrigation, it is an average of 512 mm. When implementing 75% of the optimal irrigation rate, ET is 428 mm (83.6% of the maximum), and when applying ½ rate, it decreases on average by 30.3% and is 356.5 mm. The course of the average day-night evapotranspiration was established, and depending on the nature of the year, with optimal irrigation, the maximum values are in the range of 5.6 - 6.7 mm per day.

Keywords: average day-night evapotranspiration; tomatoes; total values of evapotranspiration

Citation: Petrova, R., & Petrova-Harizanova, B. (2024). Evapotranspiration of mid-early tomatoes depending on the applied irrigation regime. Bulgarian Journal of Crop Science, 61(5) 54-63 (Bg).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.61308/OQGV8228

Date published: 2024-10-28