Influence of Deficit Irrigation on Three Tomato Cultivars Yield in Marvdasht Plain

The effect of water stress on tomato crop in Marvdasht region (Fars province) was investigated as five treatments in three cultivars (Super Urbana¡ Super Chef¡ Kingston) in 2014. The experiments were done in a farm in Fathabad country near Marvdasht town and were replicated three times. Irrigation water content treatments were considered in five levels (control¡ 60¡ 80¡ 100 and 120% water requirement). The irrigation water content was calculated by penman-montieth method. The above water requirements were determined considering leaching requirement and 90% irrigation efficiency in drip irrigation systam. Irrigation water was applied using calibrated water flow meters and the treatments were irrigated in four day periods. Planting¡ maintenance and harvesting operations were the same in all treatment. Planting was done by seeds. The control treatment was managed by the farmer and the plants were irrigated for about 8 hrs every 4 days. Results revealed significantly different yield between three cultivars. The irrigation water had highly significant effect¡ but the interaction between cultivars and water requirement was not significant. Also the effect of irrigation treatments on crop yield was significant. The highest and the lowest yield was obtained as 73729 kg/ha using 8840 m3/ha and 39551 kg/ha using 4420 m3/ha of water; respectively. These results showed that the water had significant effect on crop yield and the maximum water use efficiency was estimated as 8.5 in 80% water requirement treatment and the minimum was calculated as 7.1 kg/m3 for that of 60% water requirement treatment. So 80% water treatment is recommended.