Effect of Automated Drip Irrigation System on Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)
R. Suvitha *
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-614 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
A. Velayutham
Agricultural College and Research Institute, Thanjavur-614 902, Tamil Nadu, India.
V. Geethalakshmi
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-614 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
S. Panneerselvam
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-614 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
P. Jeyakumar
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-614 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
K. Nagarajan
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-614 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of different automated drip irrigation on tomato crop under sandy clay loam soil in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University during kharif 2019 and kharif 2020. Five treatments comprising 4 different automated drip irrigation systems are time based drip irrigation, volume based drip irrigation, soil moisture sensor based irrigation, switching tensiometer based irrigation and one is conventional method of irrigation were tested. The results revealed that tensiometer based drip irrigation recorded higher fruit yield of 95.11 and 96.21 t ha-1 and water use efficiency of 21.10 and 25.42 t ha-mm-1 resulting in increment over conventional method of irrigation. However, the above treatment was followed by soil moisture sensor based drip irrigation in tomato. Tensiometer based drip irrigation helps to save the water up to 54.91 and 60.55 % compared to conventional method of irrigation during kharif 2019 and 2020.
Keywords: Tomato, automated drip irrigation, fruit yield, water use efficiency.