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Testing foliar nutritional changes in space and over time in greenhouse tomato

Abstract:

The aim of this trial was to study the spatial and temporal variability of the leaf nutrient concentration in tomato intensive crop under greenhouse, to know the number of sub-samples needed to be taken to obtain a representative sample and the influence by the position in the greenhouses. The experiment consisted on the selection of 20 sample points over the greenhouse with one tomato plant per sample point. One fully expanded leaf by sample point with an interval of a week were taken. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), sodium (Na), and chloride (Cl) were determined in each sample. According to these results, N, P, K, S, Cl, and Na concentration showed no variation over the time. The spatial variability of N, P, and K could be related with the light intensity and yield. The suggested number of leaf sub-sample ranging from 25 to 126 depending on nutrient.