Effect of new irrigating and soil-warming cultivation system with porous ceramic pipes on yield and fruit quality of tomato in solar greenhouse in winter

In the vegetable production, the temperature in greenhouse is low and is a limiting factor for vegetable growth during winter. A new irrigating and soil-warming cultivation system using porous ceramic pipes was applied to tomato production in greenhouse in winter. The cultivation experiment with tomato verified that this system was practical for irrigating and warming soil simultaneously. The average soil temperatures for daytime and night in the warming treatment were 2.72℃ and 1.22℃ higher than those in the no-warming treatment. The soil-warming treatment increased plant growth, soluble solid content, titratable acidity, soluble solid-acid ratio and yields, especially the earlier yields. Although air temperature in greenhouse was low in winter, the plant can grow remarkably better only by increasing soil temperature a few degrees.