A pot experiment was carried out to determine the efficacy of different growbag media with varying compositions of agricultural residues such as Cocopeat, Rice husk and Sawdust, for selecting suitable materials for matric suction irrigation for enhancing the growth of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under certain Moisture Allowable Depletion (MAD) levels. The study was conducted in Brgy. Darubba, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya from October 2022 to January 2023.
The Moisture intake curve was established which showed that Cocopeat: Rice husk and Cocopeat: Sawdust mixture had the same trend of moisture intake. A Soil-water characteristic curve was also established which showed that the mixture of Cocopeat and Vermicompost has the highest water retaining capacity among all the growing media tested.
The moisture content of Cocopeat, Cocopeat: Rice Husk and Cocopeat: Sawdust at 15 kPa (Permanent Wilting point) were 14%, 12%, and 10%, respectively while the Filed Capacity were 37%, 28%, and 22%, respectively. The moisture content decreased as matric suction potential increased. This indicates that growing media-water characteristic is related to particle size and pore distribution and is highly affected by growing media texture and composition.
The experimental set-up was laid out in Split-Plot in Randomized Complete Block design with 9 treatments replicated thrice. The treatments used in the study were Cocopeat/ 15% MAD TI), Cocopeat/ 30% MAD (T2), Cocopeat/ 40% MAD (T3), Cocopeat: Rice Husk/ 15% MAD T4), Cocopeat: Rice husk, 30% MAD (T5), Cocopeat: Rice Husk/ 40% MAD (T6), Cocopeat:Saw dust/ 15% MAD (T7), Cocopeat: Saw dust/ 30% MAD (T8), and Cocopeat: Saw dust/ 40% MAD (T9) All treatments were mixed with Vermicompost. 120 days after sowing, ripe tomato fruits were harvested manually. Growth and yield parameters were recorded.

The results revealed that the diameter of main branch, plant height and number of lateral branches were highest in the media containing Cocopeat: Vermicompost in 1:1 ratio under 30% MAD level. The significantly fruit yield of tomato (721.07 g/pot) was achieved in growing media containing equal proportion of Cocopeat: Vermicompost (1:1) under 40% MAD level. The same treatment achieved the highest results in terms of number of fruiting cluster, number of fruits per plant, single weight of a fruit, diameter and length of fruit. Besides, the promising effect of matric suction irrigation had been brought out in the study as alternative means for surface irrigation.

The mean total fruit yield and mean total water applied for all the treatments during the cropping season is shown in Table 17 having the highest water use consumption among all treatments. The treatments with Cocopeat: Rice husk had better WUE than those treatments containing Cocopeat; Sawdust. Based on the analysis of variance, there is highly significant difference in crop Water Use Efficiency among the treatments.

Thesis (Master of Science in Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Management)

Includes appendices and bibliographical references.