Effect of Plastic and Organic Mulching on Soil Moisture Retention and Yield Response of Tomato under Furrow Irrigation

One of the main causes of the low yield of tomatoes and low-quality products in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley is insufficient soil moisture during the crop-growing season. To overcome this challenge, a field trial was carried out at Tiyo woreda of Ketar Genat kebele to examine the effects of mulching and irrigation levels on soil moisture retention, water use efficiency, water productivity, and the yield of Halila variety tomatoes to determine the most efficient net return. The treatments were factorial design consisting of four mulching materials (white plastic, black plastic, wheat straw mulch, and no mulch) as the main plot and two water levels (100% ETc and 75% ETc) as sub-plot used with three replications. The interaction irrigation method and mulching types were highly significant at p<0.05 on soil moisture retention, water use efficiency, water productivity, and yield. The experiment’s findings showed that the interaction effect of white plastic mulch with 100%ETc produced the highest soil moisture retention, marketable yield, and total yield; however, it ranked fourth in WUE. The second was white plastic mulch with 75% ETc but was WUE, and the benefit-cost ratio was the first. The last was recorded at non-mulch. Therefore, based on the results of eight treatments in the experiment for tomato production, a combination of WPM with 75% ETc was advised for irrigation water management in keytar Genet Kebele and its surroundings and other similar agroecologies.