Open Access

ARTICLE

The Integration of Water and Fertilizer Regulated Soil Nutrients and Enzyme Activities of Greenhouse Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) by Moistube Irrigation

Haijian Yang¹, Mingzhi Zhang^1,*, Na Xiao¹, Yuan Li²

1 Faculty of Engineering, Huanghe Science and Technology University, Zhengzhou, 450063, China
2 Northwest Land and Resources Research Center, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710119, China

* Corresponding Author: Mingzhi Zhang. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2024, 93(11), 2813-2836. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2024.057795

Received 27 August 2024; Accepted 14 October 2024; Issue published 30 November 2024

Abstract

Moistube irrigation was driven by the gradient of water potential inside and outside the pipe wall, which has the advantages of continuous irrigation during the crop growth period. However, the response mechanism of soil nutrients and enzyme activities of greenhouse tomatoes under the integration of water and fertilizer by moistube irrigation is still unclear. In order to explore the changes in soil nutrients and enzyme activities of greenhouse tomatoes regulated by irrigation and fertilization in moistube irrigation greenhouse, a completely randomized experimental design was conducted to explore the effects of different irrigation amounts (I, controlling the working pressure head of moistube to achieve different irrigation amount gradients, capillary working pressure was 1 (I1), 2 (I2), 3 (I3) m) and fertilization amounts (F, single fertilization amount was 100 (F1), 200 (F2), 300 (F3) kg/hm²) on soil nutrients, enzyme activities and yield of greenhouse tomato. It was found that with the increase of I, the total organic carbon content (TOC), soil β-glucosidase (BG), leucine amino peptidase (LAP), N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activities enzyme of greenhouse tomato soil increased first and then decreased. When the I increased from I1 to I3, the soil total nitrogen (TN) decreased by 5.07% and 4.91%, respectively, and the soil total phosphorus (TP) by 4.37% and 4.22%, respectively. With the increase of fertilizer amounts, the TOC of tomato soil increased first and then decreased, the activities of BG, LAP, NAG and AP in soil increased first and then decreased, and the contents of TN and TP in soil decreased by 4.79% and 4.68%, 12.32% and 10.47%, respectively. The yield of tomatoes treated with I2 was significantly higher than that of I1 and I3 by about 13.99% and 1.29%, respectively. The tomato yield of F2 treatment was significantly higher than that of F1 and F3 treatments by about 22.57% and 1.72%, respectively. Based on the analysis of stoichiometry, it was found that soil carbon was more scarcity than nitrogen in greenhouse tomatoes under the integration of water and fertilizer by moistube irrigation. Soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, enzyme activity and their respective stoichiometry showed a quadratic curve relationship with yield. Therefore, I2F2 treatment of greenhouse tomatoes can not only reduce soil carbon and nitrogen limitations but also improve soil enzyme activity and achieve multiple goals of increasing greenhouse tomato yield, and saving water and fertilizer. This conclusion contributes to a more reasonable irrigation and fertilization of tomatoes in moistube irrigation greenhouse and soil nutrient management of facility agriculture through empirical proofs.

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