Development of tomato plants under different water tensions in soil during the productive stage

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most cultivated and consumed fruit in the world. Water availability is one of the most important factors affecting tomato productivity, as fruit production is limited by water deficit and excess. Our objective was to evaluate the influence of five soil water tensions (15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 kPa) during the productive stages of tomato plants grown in a greenhouse. The largest plants were obtained under the tension of 23.64 kPa. For variables such as the numbers of fruits produced per plant, productivity, mass, and fruit diameter, the highest results were obtained with 15 kPa tension. The productivity under 15 kPa tension was 6.11 kg/plant, while that under 60 kPa was 3.45 kg/plant, which corresponded to 43.5% more productivity than the lowest tension applied in the study. Therefore, soil water tensions can directly influence the productive development stage of tomato, with better results obtained under 15 kPa tension.