Because of the lack of water in arid regions, there is a great need to optimize agricultural water consumption. Thus, water conserving is becoming a decisive consideration for agriculture, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where water is the main limiting factor for plant growth (Moftah and AL-Humaid 2005). Indeed, plants are prodigal in the water use because only roughly 5% of water uptake is used for its growth and development while the remaining 95% is lost for transpiration (Prakash and Ramachandran 2000b). One way to achieve this goal is to reduce the transpiration rate (TR) in order to minimize the amount of irrigation water use. Studying the effects and potential uses of antitranspirants (ATs) in plant growth showed particular
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Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. super hybrid cultivar) seeds were sown in polystyrene trays on 10th of February, 2013. Seedlings and germination stages were conducted in the greenhouse. Seedlings were transplanted by hand at the third true leaf stage on 10th of March in oriented rows, 1.3 m apart, with 0.4 m between plants in the row, giving a plant density of about 2 plants m-2. A drip irrigation system with one laterals laid down along the rows with in-line emitters located 0.30 m apart, the emitters with flow rate of 4.2 L h-1 and the laterals were placed 10 cm away from the plants. The irrigation water applied was measured with a flow meter installed in the water delivery unit of the irrigation system, which was designed for independent control of water delivery to each evapotranspiration, and then plants were subjected to the three water regimes combined with the foliar application of ATs materials. The first foliar spray was applied on 25th of April at the start of fruit set and repeated every 21-day intervals for three applications. The ATs were applied to plants using a backpack power sprayer. Irrigation treatments (main plot) were (1) Full irrigation (100%ETc); plants received the full amount of water requirements, (2) Moderately deficit irrigation (75%ETc); plants received 75% of water requirements and (3) Severe deficit irrigation (50%ETc); plants received 50% of water requirements. Under each level of irrigation, two types of ATs materials were applied (sub plot).
Antitranspirants treatments (sub plot) were (1) Spraying Kaolin with concentration of 4% (w/v) as reflective ATs and (2) Spraying Fulvic acid with concentration of 1.5 ml L-1 as metabolic
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. super hybrid cultivar) seeds were sown in polystyrene trays on 10th of February, 2013. Seedlings and germination stages were conducted in the greenhouse. Seedlings were transplanted by hand at the third true leaf stage on 10th of March in oriented rows, 1.3 m apart, with 0.4 m between plants in the row, giving a plant density of about 2 plants m-2. A drip irrigation system with one laterals laid down along the rows with in-line emitters located 0.30 m apart, the emitters with flow rate of 4.2 L h-1 and the laterals were placed 10 cm away from the plants. The irrigation water applied was measured with a flow meter installed in the water delivery unit of the irrigation system, which was designed for independent control of water delivery to each evapotranspiration, and then plants were subjected to the three water regimes combined with the foliar application of ATs materials. The first foliar spray was applied on 25th of April at the start of fruit set and repeated every 21-day intervals for three applications. The ATs were applied to plants using a backpack power sprayer. Irrigation treatments (main plot) were (1) Full irrigation (100%ETc); plants received the full amount of water requirements, (2) Moderately deficit irrigation (75%ETc); plants received 75% of water requirements and (3) Severe deficit irrigation (50%ETc); plants received 50% of water requirements. Under each level of irrigation, two types of ATs materials were applied (sub plot).
Antitranspirants treatments (sub plot) were (1) Spraying Kaolin with concentration of 4% (w/v) as reflective ATs and (2) Spraying Fulvic acid with concentration of 1.5 ml L-1 as metabolic