Produção de tomate cereja em condições de irrigação com déficit hídrico controlado e hidrogel em solo arenoso

Abstract

In the face of the challenge posed by the limiting water conditions of the Brazilian semiarid region, creating, studying, and applying techniques and technologies to mitigate this limiting factor to agricultural production in a sustainable way is crucial for the development of this sector. In light of this, the objective was to investigate controlled water deficit and how the use of a soil conditioner, such as hydrogel, in sandy soil affects the productivity of cherry tomato crops grown in pots and in a protected environment. The work was carried out at the Agrometeorological Station of the Department of Agricultural Engineering belonging to the Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza – CE. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design, in a 5x2 factorial scheme, with subdivided plots, four replications, and two plants per plot, totaling 80 experimental units. With this focus, the following study aimed to evaluate the use of five irrigation strategies: IP - Full irrigation, plants irrigated with 100% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc); DR - Regular deficit, plants irrigated with 50% of ETc throughout the cultivation; E3 - plants irrigated with 50% of ETc in the growth phase; E4 - plants irrigated with 50% of ETc in the flowering and fruiting phase; and E5 - plants irrigated with 50% of ETc in the maturation phase. In addition to the use or non-use of the hydrogel soil conditioner. For the analysis of these factors, the following variables were studied: number of flowers at 30 and 60 days after transplanting (DAT), transverse and longitudinal diameters of the fruits, total fruit weight, total fruit number, total dry mass, and SPAD indices at 30 and 60 DAT. The analysis of variance results showed that the total fruit weight was not influenced (p > 0.05) by the interaction between irrigation strategies and the use of a soil conditioner, while the total number of fruits was influenced by the same interaction (p < 0.05). Fruit diameters were influenced only by irrigation strategies (p < 0.01). The study clarified that the use of the soil conditioner was effective in increasing fruit production (p < 0.01) and the dry matter of the plant (p < 0.01). It also indicated that deficit irrigation during the fruit maturation phase is the most suitable for productivity.