Effect of AgraGel T-400 on tomato crops, U. of Valparaiso, Chile - Case Study

Introduction
At present, a great part of vegetable production in Chile is dedicated to industrial agronomy and one of the most important products is the tomato crop for industrial processing. Chile has a capacity of 180,000 tons of tomatoes per year, which is equivalent to 12,000 hectares of crop land. Among canned products tomato paste represents 38%. This is an important employment generating sector. In order to stabilize the industrial agriculture in Chile and to be competitive with countries like Mexico and Argentina it is necessary to improve profitability by means of mechanized harvesting methods and introduction of phytosanitary and nutritional programs. Increasing irrigation efficiency is one of the most important task on the way to higher profitability in crop production.

A new method for more efficient use of a scarce water resources is the use of Terawet’s AgraGel (T-400) Blue soil additives for water and nutrient retention. What does AgraGel (T-400) Blue achieve? Worked into permeable soils, AgraGel (T-400) Blue granules store water and nutrients dissolved in it and thus create constant moisture conditions in the soil.

The main objective of this trial project is the evaluation of the AgraGel (T-400) Blue application together with tomato seeds. (Licopersicon esculentum mill).

Materials & Methods
The trial was conducted in the country property of an Agricultural Institution Pascual Baburrizza, sector of San Vicente, community of Los Andes, 5th Region.

To investigate the effect Terawet’s AgraGel (T-400) Blue water storing polymers on the germination of tomato seeds the AgraGel (T-400) Blue granules were applied together with the seeds. Direct sowing was effected manually as well as with a continuous jet on 27th November 1994. 28 grams of seeds were used on a surface of 168 m2.

Irrigation was effected every seven to eight days by flooding of the furrows. All treatments received the same irrigation and fertilization.

We applied two Terawet product types which differ in particle size distribution: AgraGel (T-400) Blue granules are between one and three mm. AgraGel F is a fine powder with particle sizes < 0.2 mm.

To evaluate the effect of Terawet’s AgraGel (T-400) Blue on germination from each treatment 1.5 meters were taken and emerged plants were counted. Measurements were taken every four days

To evaluate the effect of the different treatments on the height, of the plants three plants were taken at random three different times.

All the evaluation data was submitted to an analysis of the variance (ANOVA) in order to detect differences among the treatments. In the presence of differences a multiple comparison test was performed in order to determine the difference between two mean values. The test used was the TUCKEY test (p = 0.05).