Record Details
Alternative greenhouse tomato production system
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Alternative greenhouse tomato production system |
| Names |
Albahouh, Muhammed S.
(creator) Green, James L. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1998-09-23 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1999 |
| Abstract | The closed insulated pallet system (CIPS) was evaluated for growth, yield, and fruit quality of tomato genotypes with determinate growth habit. Plants were irrigated with several levels of sodium chloride (NaCl) salinized water. Tomato growth and yield were significantly greater in CIPS than in conventional surface-irrigated containers, regardless of irrigation water quality. Genotype was the most important factor that influenced the incidence of blossom-end rot (BER) followed by planting date, water salinity, and nitrogen form (ammonium or nitrate). The greatest increase in %BER occurred in homozygous (uu) tomato cultivars with uniform degradation of chlorophyll compared to those with green-shouldered fruit. Planting date was the second most important factor to influence the incidence of uu genotypes. Fertilization with half of nitrogen equivalents as ammonium-nitrogen increased BER. The % BER of susceptible cultivars decreased with increased NaCl salinity of irrigation water in the CIPS (17.7% at 0 gL⁻¹ versus 5.4% at 10 gL⁻¹). The desalinating halophytic plant species, Suaeda salsa, removed sodium from the root zone and deposited it in the foliage, thereby decreasing the NaCl concentration (50%) and electrical conductivity (31%) in the root medium. As an alternative to placement of fertilizer at the perimeter of the top surface of the pouched medium in CIPS, fertilizer salts (15 to 105g per plant-pouch) were placed in upward-opening vials (Conservers). The lowest rate of fertilizer (15 g/plant) in a Conserver with 5 cm sidewalls provided adequate fertilizer for 100 days tomato growth with little ion diffusion into the water reservoir. The hypothesis that increasing the cross-sectional area of the capillary wick and root medium would facilitate movement of a greater quantity of water from reservoir to plant root was proven true. Changing the root pouch diameter and increasing the cross-sectional area of vertical wicks in the smallest pouch volume was significant for water uptake during those periods of tomato growth development with high demands for water uptake (e.g., flowering and fruit expansion stages). Increasing the pouch volume from 3L to 9L significantly increased daily water uptake and consequently increased yield by 37%. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Tomatoes -- Growth |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/23578 |
