Effects of Superabsorbent and Deficit Irrigation on Yield, Water Productivity and Production Function of Cherry Tomato

Due to scarcity of water resources, its negative effects on agricultural yield, and the need to ensure food security, it is necessary to provide effective strategies to improve management and water productivity in this sector. Accordingly, the present experiment has been carried out as a factorial based on completely randomized design during spring of 2019 in the research greenhouse of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. The research factors include 3 irrigation levels Fc100, Fc75, and Fc50 (100%, 75%, and 50% field capacity) as the first factor and two superabsorbent levels S0 and S5 (0 and 5 gr/kg soil) as the second factor, performed with five replications. The results show that the maximum yield (40. 23 ton/ ha) and water productivity (10.36 kg/) belong to FC100S5 treatment, increasing by 5.71% and 47.6%, respectively, compared to the values recorded in similar level of irrigation and non-superabsorbent polymer. The maximum value of total chlorophyll (25.12 mg/ml) are observed in FC100S5 treatment, which in turn increase by 19.44%, compared to the control. The maximum value of vitamin c occurs in FC100S0 treatment, being 18.27% higher than minimum recorded value. Finally, the results show that the difference between irrigation water production of cherry tomato in FC100S0 and FC75S5 has not been not significant, despite 25% reduction in field capacity moisture at FC75S5. According to the results of this research, the quadratic production function is recommended as the optimal function to estimate the mentioned traits in terms of application and non- application of super absorbent.