Irrigation
• Tomato is typically growth in irrigated conditions.
Irrigation has an important influence on yield and
quality of the product. Tomato water requirements
are rather high; they are increasing from
germination to the phases of flowering and fruit
formation, then decrease during maturation of
fruits. Of course, on different environments also
water requirements are different: some guidelines
are , though, possible. Tomato evapotranspiration
in hot climates can vary from 2 millimeters in
germination up to 5 to 8 millimeters in summer
during fruit formation. This means a water
consumption between 20 to 80 cubic meters per
day and per hectare. As a whole, in southern hot
regions, a total requirement of 5.000-7000 cubic
meters per season is a good average. Therefore,
irrigation is carried out frequently, every 5-7 days,
with water eight of 30- 40 millimeters. In northern
regions, 5 or 6 applications during the summer with
an eight of 30 millimeters are normally sufficient.
• Different irrigation system are possible: surface
irrigation from furrows, sprinkler irrigation with
central pivot or hose reel machines, drip irrigation
are most common systems used on tomato.
• Furrow irrigation works well on fields with a slope
of 1-2% and length up to 300 meters: the system
is less efficient than other are, but it’s economic.
Sprinkler system do not need level fields, are more
efficient that furrows, but are subject to the
negative action of wind.
• Drip irrigation is the most efficient system and
when applied with fertirrigation (distribution
of fertilizers through irrigation water) brings
outstanding productive results.