Effects of deficit irrigation and biochar addition on the growth, yield, and quality of tomato
Abstract Biochar soil amendments have the potential to improve the soil water and nutrient status, and could enhance crop productivity. A greenhouse experiment was conducted over two consecutive growing seasons to investigate the effects of biochar amendment (BA) in combination with deficit irrigation (DI) on tomato growth, physiology, yield, fruit quality, and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) Plants were grown in a ridge and furrow system. A randomized complete block design was used that comprised three irrigation regimes (W1 50% W2 75% and W3 100% of the reference evapotranspiration) as blocks; each block had nine plots with BA applied at three rates (T1 0, T2 25, and T3 50 t ha 1 in three replications. The BA treatments (T2 and T3) improved soil water storage in both DI treatments (W1 and W2) which consequently enhanced growth, physiology and yield of tomato compared with the control (T1) There was no significant difference (P