ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. The tomato is one of the main vegetables grown in protected environment where the adequate irrigation management is essential for higher productivity with better fruits quality. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different soil water tension on the production and fruit the quality of tomato grown in protected environment. The experiment was conducted with a completely randomized design, with five soil water tension levels (15, 30, 45, 60 and 120 kPa) and four replications. The plants were transplanted into pots with 20 L capacity, spaced of 0.60 m between plants and 1.00 m between rows. It was used a drip irrigation system with an emitter per plant. The tomato plant development was monitored by measuring their height and stem diameter. At the harvest moment the fruits were weighted, classified and distributed in size class according to their diameter: Large (diameter bigger than 60 mm); medium (between 50 and 60 mm) and small (between 40 and 50 mm). Total and marketable production presented inversely proportional behavior with soil water tension. The marketable production showed be more sensitive to water deficit, presenting a production fall of 9% bigger than total production. Higher number of fruits classified as large (> 60 mm) was obtained when the irrigation was made with 15 kPa.