Effect of Irrigation Regimes and Nitrogen Levels on Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Yield and Water Productivity in Sodo Woreda, Gurague Zone, Ethiopia

Mulugeta Abebo; Tagesse Bekele; Mohammed Ahmed

Abstract

Application of nitrogen nutrient and optimal irrigation scheduling results satisfactory tomato yields and advisable economic advantages with better water productivity. Therefore, this study was investigated the effect of irrigation regimes and nitrogen levels on tomato yield and water productivity in Sodo woreda, Gurague Zone, Ethiopia. The study was structured using a Randomized Complete Block Design, employing a factorial setup involving four nitrogen levels (0, 46, 92, and 138 N kg ha-1) and three irrigation levels (120% MAD, 100% MAD, and 75% MAD), each replicated three times.. The result revealed that, there was a significant (<0.05) interaction effect of nitrogen levels and irrigation regimes on the marketable and total yield of the tomato. Thus, the maximum marketable yield of tomato; 86.3, 85.2 and 82.6 (t/ha) and total yield of tomato; 89.2, 88 and 85.5 (t/ha) were obtained from the combined application of (138 N kg/ha + 100% MAD), (138 N kg/ha + 75% MAD) and (138 N kg/ha + 120% MAD) respectively without significant difference among them. Also, the highest net benefits of 1701847.6, 1677351.1 and 1627316.5 Eth-Birr were obtained by pooled application of (138 N kg/ha + 100% MAD), (138 N kg/ha + 75% MAD) and (138 N kg/ha+ 120% MAD) respectively. But, the marginal rate of return for (138 N kg/ha + 75% MAD) was negative value i.e the treatment was dominated. The highest MRR% of 86992.2 was obtained by combined application of (138 N kg/ha+ 120% MAD) with net benefit of 1627316.5 Eth-Birr. There are significant (P < 0.05) interaction effects on water productivities by combined application of different nitrogen and irrigation levels. Thus, the maximum water productivities of 13.6, 14.3 and 14.1 (kg/m3) were obtained when applied (138 N kg/ha + 120% MAD), (138 N kg/ha + 100% MAD) and (138 N kg/ha + 75% MAD) nitrogen and irrigation levels respectively without significant difference among them. Therefore, based on this study, the pooled application of (138 N kg/ha + 120% MAD) nitrogen and irrigation levels was recommended for better tomato yields, advisable economic advantages with better water productivity for the study area.