Two field experiments were carried out during the two early-summer
growing seasons of 2003 and 2004 on a sandy soil at El-Gebeel area. South Sinai
to study the effect of both irrigation waler quality (WO) and surface drip (SO) or
subsurface drip (S50) irrigation systems on nutrient levels in soil and tomato
petioles. Five water resources with different salinity levels were used (W01 ;: 0.88
dS/m as control. W02 ;: 1.90. W03 ;: 3.98. W04 ;: 6.20. and W05 ;: 10.0Q dS/m)
for irrigating tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill cv. GS). Data obtained showed that petiole Nand P concentrations were
significantly increased with increasing salinity levels of the applied irrigation water,
while petiole K concentration exhlbited an opposite trend. On the other hand.
micronutrients (i.e., Fe. Mn. Zn, and Cu) had no specific trend. As for the effect of
irrigation system (IS), results revealed that SSD irrigated plants had petiole
nutrient concentrations higher than those of SD irrigaled ones at any WO
treatment. Distribution and concentrations of the studied nutrients in the soil were
significantly influenced by WO. IS. soil depth, and their interaction effects, with
the exception of Nand Cu for the later effect.