Response of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) to Deficit Irrigation in Raya Valley, Northern Ethiopia

Water scarcity, erratic rainfall distribution and better management of water are a major constraint for the production of food in arid and semi-arid areas. Therefore, to cope up this problem deficit irrigation and application of irrigation systems are important concerns to achieve the goal of reducing irrigation water use and increase water productivity without significant yield loss under scarce water resources. A field experiment was carried out at Mehoni Agricultural Research Center, Raya Valley of Ethiopia, with objective of to identify the level of deficit irrigation which allow achieving optimum yield and to investigate the effect of alternate, fixed and conventional furrow irrigation method on yield and water productivity. The treatment were three deficit irrigation levels (50, 75 and 100% ETc), and three furrow irrigation methods (conventional, alternate and fixed furrow) were laid out in a random complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest yield was obtained from combination of convectional furrow irrigation method with 100% ETc, convectional furrow irrigation method with 75% ETc and alternative furrow irrigation method with 100% ETc respectively without statistically difference. The highest water productivity of tomato was recorded from alternative furrow irrigation method followed by fixed furrow irrigation method, while convectional furrow irrigation method was recorded the lowest water productivity. Therefore, it can be concluded that alternative furrow irrigation method with 100% ETC of irrigation level increased water productivity which solve a problem of water shortage without significance reduction in tomato yield. Keywords: Deficit irrigation, Furrow methods, Irrigation level, Tomato, Water productivity DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-6-04 Publication date: June 30 th 2020