Search Results
Abstract
The yield of 2 crops of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Tropic) was determined in CO2 enriched, unventilated and conventionally ventilated greenhouses. The “ventilated” control house was cooled at 26.5°C with conventional ventilation fans and wetted pads. The “unventilated” houses were cooled at 26.5° by recirculating the greenhouse air through direct-contact heat exchanger pads sprayed with water from evaporative cooling towers and also under severely humid conditions by ventilating at 29.5°. For the first spring crop, the ventilated control house at ambient CO2 yielded 8.58 kg/plant (0.35 m2/plant). Unventilated houses enriched with 650 and 1000 μl CO2/liter air had 17 and 48% greater yields than the control. An unventilated, unenriched house suffered a 13% yield decrease. For the second winter crop, the control house yielded 8.48 and 9.70 kg/plant at standard and high nutrient levels, respectively. At the standard nutrient level, unventilated houses yielded 64 and 63% greater than the control at 1000 and 1350 μl CO2/liter, respectively. At the high nutrient level, they yielded 35 and 37% greater. A ventilated house enriched to 1000 μl/liter whenever cooling was not required yielded 8 and 10% greater than the control at the standard and high nutrient levels, respectively.
Abstract
The flavor and consumer acceptability of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Tropic) grown in 4 greenhouses with different CO2-enrichment-ventilation environments and 2 nutrient concentrations (standard and 1.5 × standard) were tested with sensory panels. Enriching conventional ventilated greenhouses to 1000 μl CO2/liter had no significant effect on acceptability. Lack of ventilation caused a decrease in acceptability while the higher nutrient concentration significantly improved it. Vitamin A content of ‘N-65’ and ‘Tropic’ tomatoes was increased with CO2 enrichment and lack of ventilation, but nutrient concentration had no effect. None of the treatments consistently affected Vitamin C content.
Abstract
A conductimetric CO2 analyzer was designed, built, and tested. The principle of operation is based on measuring the increase in electrical conductivity of recirculated, deionized water when a sample air stream is bubbled through the water. An improvement over previous models was the addition of temperature compensation so the instrument could be used in greenhouses to reliably measure CO2 concentration in the 0-3000 ppm range at 1/9th the cost of an infrared CO2 analyzer.
Observations that tomato transplants died or were severely stunted when set into unincorporated sorghum-sudan hybrid surface mulch led us to further investigate the potential allelopathic impacts of this warm-season cover crop in a series of field experiments. Survival and dry weights of tomato, lettuce, and broccoli transplants were determined in fallow, incorporated sorghum-sudan-, and unincorporated sorghum-sudan-mulched soils. All three species transplanted into plots in which the sorghum-sudan had been cut and left on the soil surface had a significantly lower dry weight than plants transplanted into fallow soil or into soil where the sorghum-sudan had been incorporated. Additionally, fewer transplants survived in the mulch treatment. The surface mulch plots also significantly reduced weed biomass nearly 10-fold. We believe that a water-soluble compound that is leached out of the sorghum-sudan hybrid is toxic to all three of the plants tested. Further laboratory and greenhouse tests are under way to determine the exact nature of the toxic substance.
A participatory, on-farm research and extension program has been established around 16 demonstration comparisons of biologically integrated soil building–pest management systems and conventionally managed systems within the West Side row crop area of California's San Joaquin Valley. In each of the biologically integrated parcels, cover crops and composted organic materials are integrated into rotations wherever appropriate, whereas in the conventionally managed parcels, mineral fertilizer applications are made. Pest management practices are evaluated and biologically and informationally intensive alternatives are developed through a participatory process. Indices of soil quality including nutrient status, water stable aggregates, organic matter content, and phospholipid fatty acids are routinely monitored. Information related to the objectives, structure and monitoring activities of this project during the establishment phase will be discussed.
No-till processing tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) production in four winter cover crop-derived mulches was evaluated in 1997 and 1998 in Five Points, Calif. The effectiveness of two medics, `Sava' snail medic (Medicago scutellata Mill.) (sava), and `Sephi' barrel medic (Medicago truncatula Gaertn.) (sephi), and two cereal/legume cover crop mixtures, triticale/`Lana' woolypod vetch (X Triticosecale Wittm./Vicia dasycarpa Ten.) (triticale/vetch) and rye/`Lana' woolypod vetch (Secale cereale L./V. dasycarpa) (rye/vetch), was compared with two conventionally tilled fallow controls (with and without herbicide) (fallow+h and fallow-h) in suppressing weeds and maintaining yields with reduced fertilizer inputs. The comparison was conducted as a split plot, with three N fertilization rates (0, 100, and 200 lb/acre; 0, 112, and 224 kg·ha-1) as main plots and cover crops and fallow controls as subplots. Tomato seedlings were transplanted 3 weeks after the cover crops had been mowed and sprayed with herbicide. There were no significant differences in weed cover in the no-till cover crop treatments relative to the fallow controls in 1997. Early season weed suppression in rye/vetch and triticale/vetch plots was similar to herbicide-treated fallow (fallow+h) in 1998, however, later in the 1998 season weed suppression was best in the fallow+h. Tissue N was highest in the fallow treatments in both 1997 and 1998. Yields were highest in the triticale/vetch and fallow and lowest in sephi treatments in 1997, but there were no differences among treatments in 1998. These results demonstrate the feasibility of no-till mulch production of furrow irrigated processing tomatoes and identify opportunities for further optimization of the system.
Field experiments were conducted in 2000 and 2001 in Meridian, Calif. to evaluate the effects of cover crop mixtures and reduced tillage on yield, soil nitrogen (N), weed growth, and soil moisture content in organic processing tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) production. The trial was set up as a randomized complete-block design with eight treatments consisting of a 2 × 3 (cover crop × tillage) factorial design, a fallow control (F) and a single strip-till (ST) treatment. Cover crop mixtures were either legumes (L), common vetch (Vicia sativa), field pea (Pisum sativum) and bell bean (Vicia faba), or those legumes with grasses (GL), annual ryegrass/triticale (Lolium multiflorum/xTriticosecale) in 2000; cereal rye (Secale cereale)/triticale in 2001. Tillage treatments included an incorporation of the cover crop at planting (IP), a delayed incorporation (DI) (17 to 19 days after planting), and no-till (NT). Due to regrowth of the annual ryegrass in 2000, tomato fruit yields in 2000 were reduced by 50% to 97% within all GL treatments. However, regrowth of the cover crop was not a problem in 2001 and yields were not different among treatments. Total percent weed cover was 1.6 to 12.5 times higher in NT than IP treatments in 2000 and 2.4 to 7.4 times higher in 2001 as weed pressure was mainly affected by tillage practices and less by cover crop type. In 2000, available soil N was 1.7 to 9.4 times higher in L than GL treatments and was significantly influenced by tillage, but there were no treatment effects in 2001 due to a 60% reduction in weed pressure and minimal or no cover crop regrowth. Soil moisture content did not differ between treatments in either year. These results demonstrate the importance of appropriate selection and termination of cover crops for their successful adoption in organic conservation tillage systems.
In Fall 1995, 12 row crop farmers in conjunction with Univ. of California, NRCS and private agency advisors established the West Side On-Farm Demonstration Project to conduct demonstrations of soil and pest management options aimed at sustained profitability and environmental stewardship in the western San Joaquin Valley of California. Monitoring of soil physical, chemical, and biological properties is done in side-by-side on-farm comparisons of plots amended with organic inputs and unamended plots. Intensive monitoring of beneficial and pest insects is carried out within each comparison block, and the data generated is used to guide pest management decision-making at each site. Yields and soil characteristics of the amended plots did not differ from those of unamended plots after the first year. The on-farm context and the cooperative farmer–scientist interactions of this project facilitate the development of timely and relevant research directions to be pursued beyond the core set of monitoring activities.
Conservation tillage (CT) row crop production is currently not widely adopted in California. Recently, however, interest in evaluating the potential of CT systems to reduce production costs and improve soil quality is growing in many areas in the state. In 1997 and 1998, we evaluated four cover crop mulches (rye/vetch, triticale/vetch, Sava medic, and Sephi medic) in a CT-transplanted tomato system relative to the conventional winter fallow (CF) practice. In both years, yields were comparable to the CF under the triticale/vetch and rye/vetch mulches. Earthworm populations after 2 years of CT production were increased 2- to 5-fold under mulches relative to the CF system. Soil carbon was increased by 16% and 6% after 2 years of CT production under the triticale/vetch and rye/vetch mulches, respectively. Weed suppression under the triticale/vetch and rye/vetch was comparable to the CF with herbicide system early in the season in both years but was maintained through harvest in only one season. Soil water storage (0-90 cm) was similar at the beginning of the tomato season in triticale/vetch, rye/vetch, and fallow plots but was higher under the mulches during much of the last 45 days of the 1998 season. Further refinement of CT practices in California's vegetable production regions is needed before wider adoption is likely.