Effect of Rice Straw Compost and Water Regimes on Growth Performance of Tomato (Lycopersicum Esculentum L.)
The use of low technological agronomic manipulations, such as composted organic amendments and new irrigation techniques can contribute positively in water use efficiency and agriculture sustainability under limited resources. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of rice straw c...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2005
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/58/1/1000548930_fp_2005_36.pdf |
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| Summary: | The use of low technological agronomic manipulations, such as composted
organic amendments and new irrigation techniques can contribute positively
in water use efficiency and agriculture sustainability under limited resources.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of rice straw compost
on plant physiological status, growth, yield, fruit quality and water use of
tomato grown under protected environment in humid climatic conditions of
Malaysia, using soilless and soil mixture media in combination with water
regimes either by withholding or by using partial rootzone drying (PRD)
technique.
Rice straw compost treated with chicken manure (2:1) using static aeration
pile system has suitable physiochemical properties ranging within compost
standards. The use of rice straw compost in combination with a peat based
vegetable transplant media, especially with 25%and 50% compost mixture
was observed to provide a more appropriate medium compared to rice straw
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compost or peat mix alone for production of tomato seedlings and showed
improvement in all growth parameters. The addition of rice straw compost at
30%, significantly increased plant dry biomass, fruit diameter, yield and
water use efficiency (WUE) in both media, whereas the water deficit
significantly decreased these parameters in most of the treatments. The
addition of rice straw compost, however, had opposite effects on the two
media in terms of total organic matter. The total organic matter significantly
increased in the soil mixture, while it significantly decreased in the soilless
media. The results indicated that the soilless media was not affected by the
stress regime in most of these parameters. This suggests that the soilless
media increased the water holding capacity and other physical properties
better than the soil mixture. The results also indicated that media drying
decreased leaf water potential, stomatal conductance, as well as, plant dry
biomass, in addition to increasing proline accumulations, with slight
differences between the different growth media.
PRD, on the other hand, was obsereve to significantly reduce leaf expansion,
plant leaf area and stomatal conductance in both media, but severely with
soil mixture, whereas proline and sugars namely fructose, glucose and
sucrose, were dramatically increased in the leaf especially with soil mixture.
Stomatal conductance, leaf expansion and proline accumulation, however,
significantly correlated with media drying. Dry matter partitioning showed a
significant reduction in total dry matter and plant dry shoot weight with
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PRD, but significantly increased root to shoot ratio with no significant
differences in plant dry root weight. WUE increased significantly with PRD
in both media. The use of soilless media resulted in a significant increase in
all biological parameters. Yield was also affected with PRD in both media;
there was significant interaction between the two media and irrigation
regime. However, there was no significant reduction in marketable yield due
to PRD in soilless media. This suggests that PRD application could be
effective in soilless media. PRD significantly improved fruit carbohydrates
and other fruit quality indices |
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