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In present context and under foreseeing scenario of climate change, the declining of water allocation to agriculture due to increase of population and food demand has sensitized judicious use of available water in agriculture. Under such scenario, maximization of crop water productivity is more crucial than simple yield maximization – a target usually anticipated under irrigated condition. Deficit irrigation (DI) has been proposed as a valuable strategy of economizing water use, more particularly in water scarce arid and semi-arid regions. Available literature suggests that appropriate DI strategy may account for a significant amount of water saving with some improvement in fruit quality such as in tomato, one of the most nutritious and economic vegetables of global significance. In present review, varying aspects of DI in tomato are discussed: tactful (growth-stage/-period wise) implementation of DI strategies to attain satisfactory level of water saving without or with a minimum penalty on economic yield and quality; various morphological and physio-biochemical implications of DI in tomato plants relevance to conservative use of water; the integrated approach involving different agronomic practices with DI; and the future prospects of DI, and its combination with other approaches for sustainable tomato cultivation is also highlighted.

Large mortality and general growth restriction of transplanted tree seedlings in the Indian arid zone prompted this study on the effects of different levels (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full field capacity (FC)) and intervals (1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks) of irrigation, during the first dry period (September to July), following transplantation. Results are expressed as increases in height and stem diameter over time in relation to soil moisture regime and plant water status under different treatments. Final measurements 450 days after starting irrigation treatments indicated that watering at FC at 1- and 2-week intervals brought about the maximum increase in height and stem diameter, which declined progressively with increasing intervals and decreasing level. Despite the similarity in trend, final biomass production and crown area were highest under watering at FC at a 2-week interval due to larger increase in stem and foliage weight. Limited data on root growth along a single vertical plane suggested that branching of root laterals was mostly confined to the 10–50-cm depth irrespective of irrigation treatments, while depth of rooting tended to increase at longer intervals of watering. Under the prevailing conditions, average application of 46 1 (FC) per plant at 2-week intervals led to maximum growth and biomass production with no mortality, while under the low-threshold average irrigation of 121 (1/4 FC) per plant at 2-week intervals could eliminate mortality although the biomass production was reduced by about 91%.