Effect of Planting Pattern and Different Nitrogen Levels on Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Yield and Yield Components of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. Karoon)

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

• Bahram Behzadi ¹
• Abbas Biabani ²
• Mokhtar Zolfi Bavariani ³
• Ali Rahemi ²
• Hosein Hoseini Moghaddam ²

¹ Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Gonbad Kavos University and researcher of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences Research Department, Bushehr Province Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Bushehr, Iran

² Plant Production Group, Faculty of Agriculture, Kavos Dome University, Iran.

³ Department of Soil and Water Research, Center for Research and Education of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Bushehr Province, Organization of Research, Education and Promotion of Agriculture, Bushehr

10.22067/jag.v12i1.79832

Abstract

Introduction
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a warm season crop that originated in South America. Tomatoes have significant nutritional value. In recent years, they have become known as an important source of lycopene, which is a powerful antioxidant that acts as an anticarcinogen. They also provide vitamins and minerals and serve as an important source of nutrients in contemporary diets due to readily available fresh fruit and processed products, their popularity, and the sheer volume consumed. Among the various factors affecting plant growth, optimum planting pattern plays an important role in preventing plant competition and poor fruit formation. Tomatoes can be planted in one of many different arrangements that provide adequate space for plant growth. Optimum use of nitrogen is one of the most important agricultural management factors in achieving proper performance in arid areas. Nitrogen use efficiency is greatly influenced by nitrogen levels and has an inverse relationship with the amount of nitrogen applied. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of planting pattern (single row and twin row) and nitrogen levels on yield, yield components and nitrogen use efficiency of tomato cv. Karoon under arid region.
 
Materials and methods
Two experiments were carried out at Bondarooz and Saad Abad agricultural research stations in Bushehr Province during 2017-18 to determine the best planting pattern and nitrogen fertilizer application on yield and its components of tomato cv. Karoon. The design was conducted as split plot layout based on a randomized block design with three replications. The main plot included plant pattern treatments in two levels (single row and twin row) and subplot included nitrogen treatments in four levels (no fertilizer, 90, 180 and 270 kg.ha-1). The studied traits included total fresh fruit yield, marketable fruit yield, total and marketable fruit per plant, fruit weight, fruit shape index, fruit hardness, chlorophyll index, and nitrogen use efficiency. For statistical analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT) were performed using SAS ver. 9.1 software.
 
Results and Discussion
The results showed that the effect of region, planting pattern and nitrogen levels on the traits of total and marketable was significant at 1% probability level. The interaction effects of planting pattern and nitrogen levels on total fruit yield, marketable fruit yield, total number of fruits, chlorophyll index and fruit hardness were significant. The highest and the lowest total and marketable yields were obtained from single row planting method and application of 180 kg net nitrogen per hectare (54.08 and 46.50 t.ha-1) and twin row planting with non-application of nitrogen fertilizer (26.10 and 21.72 t.ha-1), respectively. The maximum number of fruits was 36.57 from single row planting and 180 kg Nitrogen fertilizer and the lowest number was 16.15 from twin row planting and without nitrogen fertilizer application. One of the reasons for this superiority can be the lower plant space in single row planting rather than twin row planting. The results of combined analysis of variance showed that only place effect on single fruit weight was significant at 1% probability level. The treatments with the highest chlorophyll index also had higher yields. Generally at all levels of nitrogen applications and interaction between planting pattern and nitrogen levels, nitrogen use efficiency decreased with increasing nitrogen fertilizer application. It may be related to limitation in uptake and sink capacities resulting in a saturation response. In Saad abad, simple effects of planting pattern and nitrogen on fruit weight had a significant effect at 5% probability level.
 
Conclusion
Single row planting was superior to twin row planting on all traits except fruit hardness. Nitrogen in arid regions can be considered as one of the most important factors affecting the performance and efficiency of nitrogen use. Single row planting and 180 kg Nitrogen application compared to a twin row planting without nitrogen increased the yield by 107%.
 

Keywords

• Chlorophyll index
• Nitrogen use efficiency
• Single row planting
• Total fruit number
• Twin row planting

20.1001.1.20087713.1399.12.1.5.7

---

References

Adel, M., Amiri, M.E., and Nejatian, A., 2016. Effect of salicylic acid and chelated magnesium sulfate on fruit quality improvement (physical characteristics) in Pear cv. Louise Bonne, Journal of Horticultural Science 30(1): 133-140.

Adigun, J.A., Daramola, O.S., Adeyemi, O.R., Olorunmaiye, P.M., and Osipitan, O.A., 2018. Nitrogen and weed management in transplanted tomato in the Nigerian forest-savanna transition zone. Annals of Agrarian Science 16(3): 281-285.

ASCY (Agricultural Statistics of the Crop Year)., 2018. Ministry of Agriculture. Press, 116p. (In Persian)

Asgedom, S., Struik P.C., Heuvelink, E., and Araia, W., 2011. Opportunities and constraints of tomato production in Eritrea. African Journal of Agricultural Research 6(4): 956-967.

Aujla, M.S., Thind, H.S., and Buttar, G.S., 2007. Fruit yield and water use efficiency of eggplant (Solanum melongema L.) as influenced by different quantities of nitrogen and water applied through drip and furrow irrigation. Scientia Horticulturae 112(2): 142-148.

Azevedo, V.F., Abboud, A.C.S., and Carmo, M.G.F., 2010. Row spacing and pruning regimes on organically grown cherry tomato. Horticultura Brasileira 28: 389-394.

Badr, M.A., El-Tohamy, W.A., and Zaghloul, A.M., 2012. Yield and water use efficiency of potato grown under different irrigation and nitrogen levels in an arid region. Agricultural Water Management 110: 9-15.

Badr, M.A., Abou-Hussein, S.D., and El-Tohamy, W.A., 2016. Tomato yield, nitrogen uptake and water use efficiency as affected by planting geometry and level of nitrogen in an arid region. Agricultural Water Management 169: 90-97.

Behzadi, B., and Rakhshanderoo, M., 2014. Determination of the best planting pattern of drip-tape irrigated tomatoes. Seed and Plant Production Journal 30(4): 389-400. (In Persian with English Summary)

Cetin, O., and Uygan, D., 2008. The effect of drip line spacing, irrigation regimes and planting geometries of tomato on yield, irrigation water use efficiency and net return. Agricultural Water Management 95: 949- 958.

Chernet, S., Belay, F., Tekle, G., Kahsay, Y., Weldu, N., and Zerabruk, G., 2017. Response of yield and yield components of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) to different inter and intra-row spacing at Merebleke, Northern Ethiopia. African Journal of Agricultural Research 12(33): 2614-2619.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)., 2017. Statistics: FAOSTAT agriculture. Available at Web site http://fao.org/crop/statistics.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)., 2019. Statistics: FAOSTAT agriculture. Available at Web site http://fao.org/crop/statistics.

Faraji, F., Esfahani, M., Kavoosi, M., Nahvi, M., and Rabiei, B., 2011. Effect of nitrogen fertilizer application on grain yield and milling recovery of rice (Oryza sativa cv. Khazar). Iranian Journal of Crop Sciences 13(1): 61-77. (In Persian with English Summary)

Freitas, D.C.D., Bonfim-Silva, E.M., Schlichting, A.F., and Guimaraes, S.L., 2018. Nitrogen and potassium fertilization on the development and chlorophyll index of irrigated wheat in the Cerrado, central Brazil. Australian Journal of Crop Science 12 (1): 44-50.

Gardner, F.P., Pearce, R.B., and Mitchell, R.L., 1985. Mineral nutrition. Physiology of Crop Plants. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames., USA.

Ghasemi, A., Ghanbari, A., Fakheri, B.A., and Fanaie, H.R., 2016. Effect of different fertilizer resources on yield and yield components of grain maize (Zea mays L.) influenced by tillage managements. Journal of Agroecology 7(4): 499-512. (In Persian with English Summary)

Hartz, T.K., and Bottoms, T.G., 2009. Nitrogen requirements of drip-irrigated processing tomatoes. HortScience 44(7): 1988-1993.

Jaynes, D.B., Kaspar, T.C., and Colvin, T.S., 2011. Economically optimal nitrogen rates of corn. Management zones delineated from soil and terrain attributes. Agronomy Journal 103: 1026–1035.

Kanwar, H.S., 2016. Effect of plant geometry and training on seed quality and benefit: cost ratio in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seed production. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences 8(44): 1881-1884.

Liang, L., Ridoutt, B.G., Lal, R., Wang, D., Wu, W., Peng, P., Hang, S., Wang, L., and Zhao, G., 2019. Nitrogen footprint and nitrogen use efficiency of greenhouse tomato production in North China. Journal of Cleaner Production 208: 285-296.

Maerere, A.P., Sibuga, K.P., Mwajombe, K.K., Kovach, J., and Erbaugh, M., 2006. Baseline survey report of tomato production in Mvomero district-Morogoro region, Tanzania. Faculty of Agriculture, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro: 1-31.

Malakouti, M.J., and. Homaee, M., 2003. Soil fertility in arid and semiarid regions “Problems and Solutions. Tarbiat Modares University Publications. Tehran, Iran. 488pp. (In Persian)

Mamnoie, E., and Dolatkhahi, A., 2013. Plant spacing and cultivar affects yield components, qualitative traits and early ripening of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Notulae Scientia Biologicae 5(4): 494-498.

Muhammad, A., and Singh, A., 2007. Intra-row spacing and pruning effects on fresh tomato yield in Sudan Savanna of Nigeria. Journal of Plant Science 2(2): 153-161.

Mueller, N.D., Gerber, J.S., Johnston, M., Ray, D.K., Ramankutty, N., and Foley, J.A., 2012. Closing yield gaps through nutrient and water management. Nature 490(7419): 254-257.

Rasool, I.A., and Habeeb, S.T., 2016. The role of spraying nitrogen on growth and nutritional value of fruits in different tomato genotypes. The Iraqi Journal of Agricultural Science 47(7): 82-90.

Sharma, S., 2007. Effect of different nitrogen levels and plant spacing on growth yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) variety- Kanchan. Department of Horticulture, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur College of Agriculture Gwalior.

Sharratt, B.S., and McWilliams, D.A., 2005. Microclimatic and rooting characteristics of narrow row versus conventional row corn. Agronomy Journal 97(4): 1129-1135.

Shokrallah, F.S., Hajiloo, J., and Zare, N.F., 2016. Effect of polyamines on storage life of plum fruit cv. Shablon. Iranian Journal of Horticultural Sciences 46(4): 649-658. (In Persian with English Summary)

Souza, I.A., Ribeiro, K.G., Rocha, W.W., Araújo, S.A.C., Pereira, O.G., and Cecon, P.R., 2016. Forage mass, chemical composition and leaf chlorophyll index of signal grass and organic matter in soil under increasing levels of nitrogen. Semina: Ciências Agrarias, Londrina 37(3): 1505-1514.

Seyyedi, M., and Rezvani Moghaddam, P., 2011. Study yield, its components and nitrogen use efficiency using of compost mushroom, biological and urea fertilizer in wheat. Journal of Agroecology 3(3): 313-323. (In Persian with English Summary)

Tavakkoli Kakhki, H.R., Nassiri Mahallati, M., Koocheki, A., and Beheshti, A., 2018. Evaluation of nitrogen use efficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping systems of Iran. Journal of Agroecology 10(3): 699-718. (In Persian with English Summary)

Van Dam, B., Goffau, M.D., van Lidt de Jeude, J., and Naika, S., 2005. Cultivation of tomato: production, processing and marketing. Agromisa Foundation and CTA Publications, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Netherlands.

Wang, H., Li, J., Cheng, M., Zhang, F., Wang, X., Fan, J., Wu, L., Fang, D., Zou, H., and Xiang, Y., 2019. Optimal drip fertigation management improves yield, quality, water and nitrogen use efficiency of greenhouse cucumber. Scientia Horticulturae 243: 357-366.

Xing, Y., Zhang, F., Wu, L., Fan, J., Zhang, Y., and Li, J., 2015. Determination of optimal amount of irrigation and fertilizer under drip fertigated system based on tomato yield, quality, water and fertilizer use efficiency. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering 31: 110-121.

Yan, F., Zou, Z., Dong, J., Li, J., Zhang, Z., Wang, Y., and Yang, J., 2009. Effects of different fertilization treatment on yield and quality of cucumber in plastics greenhouse. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Occidentalis Sinica 5: 272-275.

Yue, W., Zhang, F., Li, Z., Zou, H., and Gao, Y., 2015. Effects of water and nitrogen coupling on nitrogen uptake of muskmelon and nitrate accumulation in soil. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery 46(2): 88-119.

Zotarelli, L., Dukes, M.D., Scholberg, J.M.S., Munoz-Carpena, R., and Icerman, J., 2009. Tomato nitrogen accumulation and fertilizer use efficiency on a sandy soil, as affected by nitrogen rate and irrigation scheduling. Agricultural Water Management 96(8): 1247-1258.