ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1644877
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Agricultural Water Management: Techniques for Improving Crop Water Efficiency and Sustainability, Volume IIView all articles
The Comprehensive Effects of Water-Nitrogen Coupling Regulation on Energy-Saving Greenhouse Tomato Growth and Water-Nitrogen Utilization
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenyang Institute of Technology, Fushun, China
- 2People's Government of Baicheng City, Baicheng, China
- 3Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
- 4Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
- 5China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Irrigation and nitrogen application in an irrational manner can reduce tomato yield and resource use efficiency. To investigate the effects of different water and nitrogen combinations on yield, dry matter, ET, water use efficiency, and nitrogen partial productivity of greenhouse tomato, we conducted a tomato plot experiment from August to December in 2020 and 2021. The aim of this study was to derive the effects of different irrigation rates and nitrogen fertilizer applications on yield, dry matter accumulation, ET and water and nitrogen use efficiency of greenhouse tomatoes through tomato plot trial. Three irrigation levels (65%~75% θ 𝑓 (W1), 75%~85% θ 𝑓 (W2), 85%~95%θ 𝑓 (W3) and four nitrogen application rates 0 (N0), 120 kg•hm -2 (N1), 240 kg•hm -2 (N2), 360 kg•hm -2 (N3)) were set in this experiment. We conducted ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analysis for a number of indicators measured in the experiment, and also utilized structural equation modeling and Entropy Weighted TOPSIS(EWTOPSIS) modeling for comprehensive analysis and evaluation. The results showed that irrigation and nitrogen application had significant effects(P<0.05) on tomato fruit yield, total dry matter content, ET and water and nitrogen utilization efficiency. Increasing irrigation and nitrogen application would achieve higher yield and total dry matter content, but was not conducive to water conservation and efficient use of water and fertilizer. Structural equation modeling indicated that ET, WUE, and dry matter all had a positive effect on yield, with WUE being the main controlling factor for yield and having the greatest influence, with a path coefficient of even 0.81. The results of the EWTOPSIS model for the two-year trial metrics showed N1W3 as the treatment with the best overall benefits. Ultimately, this study found that greenhouse tomatoes could be optimized economically in Northeast China by controlling soil water content to 85% to 95% of field capacity and applying 120 kg hm -2 of N.
Keywords: yield, EWTOPSIS model, structural equation model, Greenhouse tomato, Water use efficiency, Partial factor productivity of nitrogen
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Niu, Pan, Li, Yao, Mao, Xu, Sun and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mingze Yao, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.