F.R. Hernández-Saucedo’s scientific contributions

Due to the high acquisition costs of drip tape for subsurface irrigation (SDI), in some places of Mexico drip tape made for surface irrigation (DI) is been used for subsurface irrigation, instead of SDI drip tape. However, effects in production, emitter discharge uniformity and its clogging vulnerability is unknown. The objective of this study was to compare the effect on tomato fruit yield and irrigation quality from SDI and DI drip tapes, both with same diameter and emitter flow, installed superficially and at the subsurface at different depths: 10, 15 and 25 cm. The experiment was realized in a greenhouse and the texture of the soil used for the planting was sandy loam, in plastic containers. In the eight installed drip treatments nutrient solution and irrigation conditions were the same. An ANOVA showed that the main effects of tape type and the installation depths on yield were not statistically significant (α=0.05). A higher yield was observed with DI drip tape and this increased as the depth of the tape increased, unlike the SDI drip tape that showed a contrary tendency. A higher emitters discharge uniformity and a lower clogging degree in the DI drip tape was obtained. Results suggest that, for at least a crop cycle, and under similar conditions to this experiment, it is possible to use DI tape, without affecting the crop production and with a lower acquisition cost.