Articles
SWEET PEPPER PRODUCTION IN A CLOSED SYSTEM IN MOUND CULTURE WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION TO IRRIGATION SCHEDULING
With this aim a modified, closed, mound culture system is operating in Geisenheim.
The soil surface in the glasshouse is covered with a plastic sheet and substrate is heaped in the form of mounds.
Vegetable transplants were planted out into the substrate mounds and supplied with water and nutrients by drip irrigation.
In order to determine the exact time of irrigation and the amount of water required, substrate humidity or alternatively the solar radiation energy were measured.
The amount of fertigation was limited by the water storage capacity of the substrate mound.
The mound system can be used for many kinds of vegetables and is demonstrated here in trials with sweet pepper.
Cultivation of sweet pepper in substrate mounds is compared to cultivation in thin-layer culture.
Trials showed significantly higher yields under mound cultivation.
The advantages of mound culture include more efficient water and nutrient distribution.
The effects of water management were investigated.
Scheduling was determined in the one case by soil moisture measurement and in the other by the amount of solar radiation.
Best yields were obtained when using nominal deficits that corresponded with the largest possible supply of water and nutrients determined by the substrate’s water storage capacity.
No waste water results as irrigation is limited by demand.
Hence, there is no need to disinfect or recirculate the nutrient solution in mound systems.
The mound systems allows environmentally friendly cultivation of sweet pepper in glasshouses.
Leaching of nutrients and pollution of ground water can be prevented.
It is recommended to schedule fertigation by radiation amount or tensiometers.