PROTECTED CULTIVATION FOR WINTER PRODUCTION OF TOMATO A.F. Abou — Hadid M.A. Maksoud D e p a r t m e n t of Horticulture Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams University Shobra El-Khima Cairo, Egypt

S.O. El-Abd Botany Laboratory National Research C e n t e r Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract The house

use

of

polyethylene

conditions

is studied.

inside and outside Productivity

houses

of

The

for

tomato

d i f f e r e n c e in air

the house are recorded

winter

production

cultivation

of

plastic

temperature

throughout

tomato

under

between

the winter

under

plastic

months.

is

discussed

in relation to variety d i f f e r e n c e s .

1.

Introduction Tomato

The a r e a

production in Egypt is a major element in the rural s t r u c t u r e . of

cultivated

tomato

is more

than 300 000 feddan.

Although

the production of t o m a t o continues throughout the year, two major strains may occur in the m a r k e t (during September - October due to the possible high

temperature

in

mid

summer,

and

during

April

as

a

result

of

the

possible d e c r e a s e of t e m p e r a t u r e in winter time ). The a r e a cultivated in winter season is about 133 000 feddan. of

temperature

reduce

in winter

fruit set

which

may reduce the viability of

in turn

a f f e c t s the

yield

to

The decrease

pollen,

and

hence

the average of

7.4

tons/f. while in autumn it amounted to 10.3 tons/f. (figure 1). The

stability

yield

of

tomato

during winter

tomato

to growth

production

period

was the

conditions

as

well

aim

of

as the

increase

this work.

of

average

The response of

under plastic house had to be assessed

and

new variety testing was t h e first step towards maximizing the yield.

2.

Materials and methods 2.1.

were

Plant

tested.

Restino,

material The

Concereto,

:

varieties Laura,

Europian were: Cantatos,

tomato Senator,

varieties Dombello,

Meltine,

Carmello

for

green

Rianto, Tm

house

Marathon,

VFH,

Noria

Tm VF2N, Vemone Tm.

Acta Horticulturae, 191, 1986 Solanacea in Mild Winter

59

Seeds were and

kept

sown in November with

January

1st

cultivated arranged

proper

26th

supply

of

1984 in

water

and

1985, plants were t r a n s f e r r e d

at

a distance

of

trays

nutrients

and

20 cms between

each

analysis

was

were

Irrigation

for water c o n t e n t .

Complete random design of twelve

Statistical

In were

plant. The rows

Plant density was five plants / m .

Statistical design : replications.

plastic.

2

100 cms apart.

four

under

moss

to the plastic house and

was practiced as required according to sail sampling 2.2.

filled with peat

carried

out

treatments

according

to

Dunkan (1955).

2.3.

Measurments

2.3.1.

Growth

and yield p a r a m e t e r s

were recorded

in t e r m s of

plant

hight and Leaf Area Index (LAI). LAI was calculted on the basis of the formula :

LAI 2.3.2.

=

Leaf area of tomotoes / cultivated area.

Temperature

measurments

logger HP 3421 A.

at intervals of

Air t e m p e r a t u r e

15 minutes using a d a t a

inside and out side the house

were

recorded.

2.3.3.

Illumination

was measured

in Lux inside and out—side the

house

once a day at noon using a portable Luxmeter.

3. Results The

results

varieties

obtained

differ

in

table

in vegetative

was

less than

both

indicates

growth

of vemon was remarkably h i g h . variety

(1)

as

well

that as

plants

of

in yield.

different

Plant

height

Nevertheless, the yield of this praticular

Meltine

and Restino.

Leaf

area

index

(LAI)

was Lower in the varieties which gave good yields e.g. Meltine and Restino, while

it

Cenator,

was

bigger

Noria).

in

the

varieties

Nevertheless,

LAI

in

which the

gave early

Lower stages

yield of

growth

a d i f f e r e n t trend in which the bigger value of LAI was generally to a good yield.

60

(Vemon, had

related

This may growth

indicate

while

in yield. to

the

c

These

some

others

the

in

the

late

vegetative

hours

with

open

field

and

under

the

plastic

spring

in

over

less

15°C

open field.

growth

plastic.

frequently

more with

vegetative an

temperature

and early summer.

Figure (2)

temperature

plastic The

with

below

occured

of

in the

15° c

reference

number

increase

to the variety

where

air

house,

response tends

to

illustrates

and below

30

to

the

accumulation

day hours

with

temperature

over thirty increase while approaching summer. below

towards

d i f f e r e n c e s may be due mainly

during

dust

varieties continue

give

duration in

of

the

microclimate

increase the

that

Meanwhile the t e m p e r a t u r e

winter

months

especially

in

the

Dust accumulation on the plastic was proved to reduce t e m p e r a

ture

inside

hand,

the

the

plastic

dust

house

resulted

in

during

the

decreasing

summer

the

time.

illumination

On in

the

the

other

house

in

winter (figure 3).

4.

Discussion The

house

growth of conditions,

Meanwhile, in

d i f f e r e n t t o m a t o varieties varies in response to plastic

the

response

without results

could

be

any

shown due

supply in

to

of

table

different

additional (1)

heating

indicate

climatic

that

or

the

cooling. difference

requirements

for

each

variety. Results local the in

shown

condition light

the

in figure

(3) indicate that

the dust

accumulation-under

- on the plastic house for a long time may well reduce

available begining

for growth.

of

the

Removing the dust is important

season.

Dust

accumulation

for once

afterwards

on

the

plastic is of negligible harm in regards to light available inside the house. The dust

could

then

be considered

as a natural

point

which could

help

at the end of the season to reduce the heat built up inside the house. The

need

for

artificial

heating

during

March is possible, only two hours a day. the

yield

proved

of

to

be

some

varieties.

suitable

for

the

some

Nevertheless, local

using

conditions

of heating systems which are expensive.

days

of

December

those

will

varieties

eliminate

which

the

cost

On the other hand, the season

of t o m a t o growth so mentioned ends by the middle of June.

Temperature

tends to increase over

30 °c for a period of 45 days at the end of

season.

in

This

increase

temperature

to

This can well help to increase

could

lower

the

productivity 61

the of

of

some

varieties.

impractical on

the

to

extend

plastic

2). The

use

Moreover,

for

of

the

the

the

growth

season

simple

season

will

cooling

increasing help

system

temperature

any to

longer. reduce

could

help

made

Keeping

the

temperature

to extend

it dust

(figure

the

season

up to September instead of ending by June. The possible use of a moist pad cooling inside for

the

system house

was proved

by

approximately

about

to

five

four hours

be e f f e c t i v e

to

seven

a day.

The

in reducing

degrees total

when

cooling

temperature

operating

fan

requirements

for

extending the season up to September is amounted to be about 480 hours. Nonetheless, August

is

the

price

quite

low

of

tomato

because

of

in

the

the

local

market

during

of

traditional

availability

the

July

and open

field summer crop. As a conclusion, local off

conditions the

use of

is essential

plastic

accumulated

the

is

vak i -'tics proved

to

necessary

obtain at

a

the

high

start

to be suitable

yield. of

Removing

the

season.

for

the

the

dust

The

dust

a f t e r w a r d s will help to reduce heat built up inside the house

by the end of the season.

Acknowledgement Eghptian

:

Norwegian

This project

research for

was

tomato.

supported Thanks

by are

EGNO, due

to

a

joint

professor

A.R. Persson for his cooperation during the e x p e r i m e n t .

References Dunkan, D.B. (1955) Multiple range and multiple f test Biometrics, 11,1. Persson, A.R. and A.F. Abou-Hadid. (1985) New

Calender

for

vegetable

the

First

production

under

modified

climate

in

plastic

in

Egypt. Proceedings

of

African

Conference,

Agriculture, Alexandria, Oct-Nov. (1984) In Press.

62

the

use

of

Table (1).

Growth p a r a m e t e r s and yield of d i f f e r e n t t o m a t o varieties grown under plastic in Egypt.

Variety

Plant hight (cm.)

Leaf area index

Yield (Kg)

February

May

January

April

Plant '

rn.

Meltine

15

250 b

0.3

2.5

4.1

20.5 a

Marathon

16

260 b

0.3

2.3

3.4

17

b

Restino

17

265 b

0.2

2.7

3.9

19.5

a

2.8

14

Rianto

16

223 c

0.4

2.7

Cantatos

15

250 b

0.1

2.9

2.5

12.5

c

Laura

15

215 c

0.2

3.4

2.4

12

c

Concereto

16

236 b

0.2

4.0

2.4

12

c

Dombello

12

260 c

0.06

4.2

2.3

11.5

c

Senator

15

180 c

0.2

5.9

2.9

14.5 be

Vemon

12

316 a

0.1

5.8

3.1

15.5 b

Noria

13

230 b

0.06

5.2

2.3

11.5 c

Carmello

13

197 c

0.07

5.0

3.4

17

be

b

UNFAVOURABL

* FROST.

HEAT

CÖNDITIONS

VIRUS infection.

WHITE FLY-

TEMPERATURE

JAN.

FEB.

40

32

30

35

5

4

2

1

I

MAR.

MAY.

JUN.

JUL.

AUG.

SE

C

EXTREM m a x . m In. MEAN

DEC.

NOV.

MONTH

max. min

43

11

|To

26

2

M«i

1 4

10

1

1 9

21

9

9

7 24

B f t ,

l u l

47

46

46

42

41

10

14

»

16

15]

33

35

35

35

32

1ft

20

22

22

20

CULTIVATIONS

-JL

F SUMMER

AUTUMN

WINTER

¡^

EARLY SUMMER

— v -

-

JL PROTECTED WINTER

Figure(l),

Tomto cul ti vat i ons in Egypt

rn reLation to

local

invjroriment.

•I

Figure ( 2 ) , D u r a t i o n field

( h o u r s ) with a i r

and

under

temperature

plastic

houses.

I

below

15°C

1

or

30 C

H

in the

open

OPEN FIELD] RADIATIO^

f

134 0 0

970 0

810 0

87 0 0

106 0 0

15600

17700

19900

2060 0

210 0 0

195 0 0

16600

cai.cm" J

Figure ( 3 ) ,

Light

condition

over

the

inside

plastic

in

and outside

plastic h o u s e

1S6A - 1985 near

Cairo.

i n relation

to

dust

accumulation