This research was conducted at the Green House and Field Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Padjadjaran from November 2022 – July 2023.
2.2. Experiment Design
The research instruments are the Cherry tomato cultivar Ruby as the introduction plant planted in different Growing Design (GD) Greenhouse, Rain shelter, and Screen house by different Watering Volumes (WV) such as 100% ETC, 75% ETC, and 50% ETC based on Evapotranspiration and field capacity. The treatments are 9 with 3 replications = 27 treatments. Each treatment consisted 4 plants. All of plants are 108.
All treatments are replicated three times. Therefore, there are 27 treatments. The experiment design using Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design will be constructed by the mathematical linear model equation as follows:
u = mean
Wi = the effect of watering volume factor
Pj = the effect of Growing House
rk = Replication
Wi Pj = the effect of the interaction of watering volume and Growing House
Once ANOVA reveals a significant effect, it will continue to find out the best treatment partially Post Hoc by Tukey Multiple range comparison test. Compared to LSD, LSD has a weakness in that it cannot test all treatment combinations (Gaspers. 2006). The Procedure of Tukey (HSD) is as follows:
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Order treatments mean accordingly
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The formula uses as follows
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Test criteria
Compare the absolute value of two different means to distinguish the differences in the HSD score
If |µi - µj| > HSD005, means the test result is significant
If |µi - µj| < HSD005, means the test result is not significant
Parameter Measurement has been done toward Growth rate, plant height/shoot length, caulis (stem) diameter, leaf amount on the main stem, fruit water content, root-shoot ratio, root length.
Preparation, Nursery and Transplanting
Planting was done in three places: greenhouse, rain shelter, and screen house. Greenhouse measures 24 meters long, 17 meters wide, and 6 meters high. The greenhouse roof uses 200 microns of UV plastic material, while the greenhouse walls use a screen net with a density of 50 mesh. The rain shelter consists of 200 microns of UV plastic roof with a building size of 18.5 x 5 x 3.5 meters (length x width x height). As for the screen house, only the roof is covered with a screen net with a density of 50 mesh. The screen house measures 15 x 3.5 x 2.8 meters (length x width x height).
Seeding is done by preparing the seedling media, namely husk charcoal. The husk charcoal is doused with water until it feels moist. The seedbed media is put into the seed tray until it is complete. Each hole was filled with one Ruby cultivar cherry tomato seed. The planting hole is closed again with the seedling medium and watered until the media is moist. The planted seed tray is stored in the greenhouse.
Transplanting seedlings from seed trays to polybags is carried out when the seedlings are four weeks after sowing (WAS). The planting medium is saturated first. Then the seeds are planted and covered again with the media. After planting, the seedlings are watered. Polybags are arranged in double rows with a distance of 50 x 30 cm.
Watering Volume Application
Watering is made daily using a nutrient solution AB mixed with the composition Solution A consisting of potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and Fe. In contrast, Solution B consists of (NH
4)
2PO
4, CuSO
4, KNO
3, MnSO
4, ZnSO
4, MgSO
4, borax acid, KH
2PO
4, N, and Mo. A total of 2 liters each of Solution A and B is dissolved in 96 liters of water. The nutrient solution is sprinkled on the surface of the planting medium. The difference in the volume of Watering was made at the age of the plants 2 WAP. The amount of watering volume is based on plant evapotranspiration (ETc) which is calculated by the Soil Water Balance equation [
22].
Information:
ETc: Evapotranspiration (mm)
P: Precipitation (mm)
I: Irrigation (volume of water given) (mm)
R: Runoff (Surface flow) (mm)
D: Drainage (Percolation) (mm)
Wn-1 : Media weight on day n-1 (g)
Wn: Weight of media on the nth day (g)
Because the experiment was carried out on polybags and watered manually, the equation can be simplified as follows:
At each location, the plant samples were used to measure total evapotranspiration (ETc). Each plant sample is equipped with a water storage container under the polybag to calculate the amount of percolation (D) resulting from Watering. Rainfall (P) is calculated by measuring the volume of water accommodated in the water storage container provided after rain. Then rainfall is measured by the formula:
Information:
H: Rainfall height (mm)
V: Volume of water accommodated (ml)
L: Area of rainwater catchment area (mm2)
The weight of the planting medium (W) is calculated by weighing the weight of the planting medium and the plants.