Investigating effects of waterpad and irrigation depth on horticulture production :

Abstract

For Agriculture to develop from its current state to a state much more beneficial to the practitioners, new and better innovations have to be explored that may contribute towards enhancement of production. The effect of Waterpads on horticulture performance was investigated in this research using tomato plants. The research was carried out at Busitema University irrigation demonstration site, located in Busitema sub-county, Busia district in eastern Uganda along Tororo-Jinja highway. Waterpads consist of a water absorbing and water holding gel (Polymer) that ensures an efficient use of water and nutrients, leading to healthier and stronger plants. The plant roots grow into the gel and can easily extract water and nutrients. The polymers are held in place in between a layer of paper and jute. The paper is a fully biodegradable paper. The glue used for gluing the components together is organic. The jute (also termed as hessian) mesh is made of jute and degrades in approximately 1 to 2 years (Sukru & Chevalking, n.d) A randomized complete block design was used; waterpad amounts of 12.5g, 25g and 50g were tested and compared with the control by the least significant difference (LSD) group test method using GenStat Discovery Edition 4. The treatments were found to be significantly different from the control. Tomatoes plants under 25g waterpad showed a better performance compared to those under other quantities and the control. Waterpads contributed about 6.66% yield increase of marketable tomato fruits over the control Plants. The overall benefit of using waterpad was found to be Shs. 1,359,400 calculated as difference between the profit of use of waterpad and that of no waterpad used. The comparison of the benefit with the cost of production of Shs. 635,760 shows that the benefit outweighs the cost and this verified the profitability of use of waterpad.