The Effect of Diversified Crop Rotations on Plant Development and Soil Health in Processing Tomato Production
Project no. 21569 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2021
Summary
<p>Since the beginning of agricultural activities until today, it is common to use an increasing level of commercial chemical inputs to achieve high yields with intensive agricultural practices. These practices, in which chemical fertilizers and pesticides are in the first place, have brought along problems such as the destruction of soil microorganism activities with the decrease in organic matter in the soil, soil erosion, increase in different disease and pest factors, increase in environmental pollution and disruption of the natural balance. In the Küçük Menders basin of İzmir province and Manisa province and its districts, intensive industrial tomato cultivation, without applying a proper rotation program, where tomato cultivation is intensively practiced, tomato cultivation is carried out consecutively every year, which causes similar problems to increase day by day. Considering the integrated structure of the ecosystem, not only economic factors but also ecological factors should be taken into consideration in sustaining agricultural activities. As a matter of fact, in order to make agriculture sustainable, correct rotation planning in production areas plays an important role in protecting and improving the physical, chemical and biological structure of the soil. Based on the production pattern of the target region, this study, which aims to establish a sustainable long-term rotation plan within the ecological and economic scope, was carried out in the research and application area of the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, E.U., in the gridded experiment method. In the study, the chemical and biological properties of the soil, nutrient cycling and changes in weed populations were investigated by growing silage corn, green beans, broccoli, red radish and vetch before and after the main crop tomato and mixing the residues of these plants into the soil. In addition, changes in yield and quality characteristics of tomato plots were determined according to the pre-crops. The study was carried out in a total of 18 plots in 6 different rotation plans with the forecrops used in the study according to the 3 replicated coincidence blocks experimental design.</p><p>At the end of the 3 production periods of the study, it was determined that the application patterns numbered 4 (Tomato-Beans-Broccoli-Tomato-Beans-Broccoli-Tomato-Beans-Broccoli-Tomato) and 6 (Tomato-Beans-Vetch-Tomato-Beans-Vetch-Tomato-Beans-Vetch-Tomato) significantly increased both the amount of yield per decare (10.586-10.770 kg/ha) and 28% brix paste yield (1770-1852 kg/ha). Fruit brix values also increased by 0.2-0.7% at the end of the 3-year study, depending on the treatments. The highest brix increase was realized in treatments 2 and 3.</p><p>It was determined that the organic matter increased in the designs where green bean and red radish pre-crops were included, total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content increased significantly in green bean and vetch plots, while there was no significant change in micronutrients compared to the pre-crops. Soil microbiological and biochemical activity was found to have a superior effect in the application pattern no. 6.</p><p>On the other hand, in the economic analysis evaluation, it was determined that the 4th application pattern generated the highest gross profit. </p>