Ahmia et al. (2026) Plant Growth, Fruit Yield and Water Productivity of Open Field Tomato Under Regulated Deficit Irrigation in a Mediterranean Region

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Irrigation and Drainage
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-04-23
• Authors: Anis Ahmia, Azzeddine Chenafi, Sami Touil, Amina Richa
• DOI: 10.1002/ird.70141

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the impact of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on the yield and water use efficiency (WUE) of open-field processing tomatoes in a semiarid Mediterranean environment. The results demonstrate that mild deficit irrigation (80% ETc) maintains yields comparable to full irrigation while significantly increasing water productivity.

Objective

• To determine the effects of three different irrigation regimes (100%, 80%, and 60% of crop evapotranspiration, ETc) on plant growth, yield components, and water use efficiency (WUE) of processing tomatoes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Open-field agricultural plots in a semiarid Mediterranean region.
• Temporal Scale: Two growing seasons (2023–2024).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for statistical analysis; real-time soil moisture monitoring for irrigation scheduling.
• Data sources: Field experimental data including plant growth indicators, yield components, fruit size, and WUE.

Main Results

• Mild Deficit (T2, 80% ETc): Maintained vegetative growth and total yield statistically comparable to full irrigation (T1, 100% ETc) while reducing water consumption by approximately 14%–16%.
• Moderate Deficit (T3, 60% ETc): Resulted in significant yield reductions, decreasing total and marketable yield by approximately 42% in 2023 and 32% in 2024.
• Water Use Efficiency (WUE): T2 showed a significant increase in WUE compared to T1, with improvements of 36% in 2023 and 15% in 2024.

Contributions

• Provides a quantitative threshold (80% ETc) for regulated deficit irrigation in processing tomatoes, offering a practical strategy to optimize water productivity in water-limited Mediterranean agricultural systems without compromising crop yield.

Funding

Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Ahmia2026Plant,
  author = {Ahmia, Anis and Chenafi, Azzeddine and Touil, Sami and Richa, Amina},
  title = {Plant Growth, Fruit Yield and Water Productivity of Open Field Tomato Under Regulated Deficit Irrigation in a Mediterranean Region},
  journal = {Irrigation and Drainage},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1002/ird.70141},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.70141}
}