Energy budget for tomato plants grown in a greenhouse in northern China
Introduction
Greenhouse agriculture occupies a land area of ~405,000 ha worldwide (Katsoulas and Stanghellini, 2019). Solar greenhouses (Fig. 1) supply a major proportion of vegetable crops in China; they provide optimal crop production environments and maximize grower profits. Water and energy transfer between soil surface and the greenhouse atmosphere governs the physiological behavior of crops, drives water circulation and energy storage, and transforms vegetation and soil (Baldocchi, 2001, Gu et al., 2005). Energy from net radiation (Rn) that is converted into sensible heat flux (H) and latent heat flux (λET) is significantly affected by irrigation, vegetation growth, and the greenhouse microclimate (Gong et al., 2017a, Gong et al., 2017b, Jiao et al., 2018, Liu et al., 2019). A good understanding of the behavior of energy components is important for improving water management and optimizing irrigation scheduling (Baldocchi, 1994; Chen et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2013; Youssef and Giuseppe, 2005). There have been many studies of water and heat energy transfer within open field ecosystems (Ai and Yang, 2016; Gong et al., 2017a, Gong et al., 2017b; Liu et al., 2019; Tian et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2020; Yan et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2017), in which energy flux and crop evapotranspiration (ET) vary under different climate conditions and soils. The microclimate of a solar greenhouse differs considerably from that of an open field. The greenhouse receives less energy due to the polyethylene sheeting covering the structure; internal wind speed is low due to the greenhouse being partially closed to external meteorological activity; and internal temperature and relative humidity are higher than outside (Gong et al., 2021). These factors all affect water and energy fluxes and energy partitioning in a greenhouse. Energy partitioning is primarily affected by irrigation methods, soil water constraints, crop management practices, and greenhouse whitening, misting and ventilation (Baille et al., 2001, Katsoulas et al., 2001, Kittas et al., 2001, Qiu et al., 2011). Thus energy fluxes and partitioning in a solar greenhouse differ from those in an open field. To our knowledge, there have been few studies that investigated the energy budget in a solar greenhouse, especially on an hourly scale.
The main component of energy flux is λET, which needs to be accurately measured when studying an energy budget. There are many techniques that are used to directly or indirectly measure λET in an open field, such as water balance, lysimeters, eddy covariance, Bowen ratio energy balance, scintillometry, sap flow plus microlysimeters, remote sensing energy balance, and satellite-based methods (Allen et al., 2011, Chen et al., 2021, Qiu et al., 2021). The water balance method has been used extensively to measure λET in a greenhouse (e.g. Qiu et al., 2015), with a recommended calculation period of seven days or longer to ensure accuracy (Allen et al., 2011). Li et al. (2020) attempted to measure hourly λET in a greenhouse using the Bowen ratio energy balance, but this approach has limited applicability due to the uneven ground and small surface area of a greenhouse (Papadakis et al., 1994, Yan et al., 2019). The weighing lysimeter has in the past been used as a precise method of measuring crop λET (Libardi et al., 2018), and have been extensively used in open fields to provide accurate hourly λET (Anapalli et al., 2016, Benli et al., 2006, Ding et al., 2010, Marek et al., 2016, Puppo et al., 2019, Xu and Chen, 2005). However, the use of weighing lysimeters to measure λET for greenhouse crops such as tomatoes is now rare, although the use of this technology has been reported for prairie grass and sugarcane (Libardi et al., 2019). Long-term continuous and accurate determination of λET is necessary to accurately quantify exchange of water and energy between atmosphere and soil surface.
Seasonal variation in λET is influenced by various physical and physiological factors. Physical factors can be quantified by the Priestley–Taylor coefficient (α), the Bowen ratio (β), and the decoupling factor (Ω); physiological factors are represented by canopy conductance (Gc) (Ding et al., 2015, Jarvis and McNaughton, 1986, Jiao et al., 2018). The Priestley–Taylor coefficient α is defined as the ratio of λET to equilibrium evapotranspiration. Its use eliminates the influence of weather and it can be used to analyze the factors that control λET. The Bowen ratio β is the ratio of sensible heat flux to latent heat flux; it is an important indicator of subsurface moisture and also indicates and reflects the energy distribution in the subsurface. The canopy conductance Gc represents the overall response of the crop to the environmental factors; it is a key parameter in the calculation of λET models. Jarvis and McNaughton (1986) investigated the response of λET to stomatal behavior. They rearranged the Penman-Monteith equation and decomposed it into two linear equations for boundary conditions. When the aerodynamic conductance was very large or tended to infinity, the corresponding hydrothermal transport was very efficient, leading to a leaf temperature that was close to the air temperature, with little effect from the input radiation; the leaf surface was well coupled to the environment when the aerodynamic conductance was very small or tending to zero, there was little hydrothermal transport between the surface and the atmosphere; the leaf surface was poorly coupled to the environment. These phenomena can be quantified and analyzed using Ω. Many studies of field crops have investigated the influence of these factors on λET, and results for different crops are inconsistent (Ding et al., 2010, Ding et al., 2015, Suyker and Verma, 2008, Zhang et al., 2016). Liu et al. (2019) found that λET was determined mainly by Rn and that daily λET was significantly influenced by Gc, shown by a good correlation between α and Gc. In contrast, Gc had a stronger influence than Rn on λET for plastic film-mulched cotton (Tian et al., 2017). Jiao et al. (2018) compared Gc, Ω, α, and β between maize and grapevine canopies; they found that λET for maize was primarily determined by Rn and λET for grapevines was primarily determined by Gc. However, there have been few solar greenhouse studies that characterize the physical and physiological drivers of λET, possibly because it is difficult to accurately measure hourly λET. The calculation of aerodynamic conductance Ga, a key parameter for determining Gc in a solar greenhouse, differs from the calculation for an open field because wind velocity in a solar greenhouse is generally low (Qiu et al., 2013, Zhang and Lemeur, 1992); thus the heat transfer coefficient has generally been used to determine Ga in a greenhouse. The equations for calculating Ga in a greenhouse vary for different modes of convection (free, forced or mixed convection), so identification of the convection mode is critical for accurate calculation of Ga. The accuracy of Ga will in turn affect the accuracy of Gc (Bailey et al., 1993, Montero et al., 2001, Qiu et al., 2013, Yan et al., 2018, Zhang and Lemeur, 1992).
Hence, in this study, to address the current scientific problems such as unclear mechanisms of energy budget and physical and physiological factors that affect λET in greenhouse grown tomato with drip irrigation, we characterize the modes of convection in the solar greenhouse, quantify λET and the dynamics of the energy budget, and identify the physical and physiological factors that govern λET.
Section snippets
Experimental site and planting information
The experiment was carried out during Mar.–Jul. in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 at the Agro-Ecological Experimental Station of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Xinxiang City, northern China (35°86'N, 113°68'E). The site has a temperate continental climate with annual mean pan evaporation >1900 mm, annual mean ETo (calculated by Penman-Monteith model) ~1045 mm, annual precipitation ~570 mm, and annual mean air temperature 14.2 °C. Mean annual sunshine is >2400 h, and the frost-free
Microclimate and convection conditions
Table 1 showed the mean values of microclimate parameters at different tomato plant growth stages during the experimental periods (2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020). The peak values of Rs, Ta, and VPD generally occurred in the middle and late stages. The seasonal mean value of Rs was high in 2016 (127.2 W m−2); the values were lower but similar to each other in 2017 (106.9 W m−2), 2019 (105.4 W m−2) and 2020 (108.7 W m−2). The seasonal mean values of Ta and VPD showed little variation across the four
Convection regimes in greenhouse
In this study, the values of Re ranged between 250 and 590, which were generally higher than those reported by Qiu et al. (2013) (106−114) due to the more ventilation vents in our greenhouse, but they were similar to those observed in a glasshouse (150−550) (Bailey et al., 1993). The Gr in this study (0.72×104–3.27×104) was lower than those observed by Qiu et al. (2013) (4.07×104–4.13×104) but within the range of values observed by Bailey et al. (1993) (1×104–5×104). Low values of Gr, in the
Conclusions
We investigated energy partitioning for greenhouse grown tomato plants with drip irrigation. The physical (α and Ω) and physiological (Gc) parameters that drive λET were analyzed. The parameter Ga, which influences Gc, was calculated for various modes of convection in the greenhouse. Results showed that mixed convection was the prevailing mode of convection over most of the study period, complemented by pure forced convection, and that pure free convection did not occur. λET was the primary
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the research grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFD1002202), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51809094, 51509130, 51822907 and 52079051) and Key Technologies R & D and Promotion Program of Henan Province (192102110090).
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2023, Agricultural Water ManagementCitation Excerpt :The Gc was low during the initial stage and then gradually increased due to the increase in LAI. The value of Gc reached a maximum of 17.89 mm s−1 during the middle growing stage which was lower than most crops demonstrated by Kelliher et al. (1995) (Gc = 32.5 mm s−1) and similar to the results for greenhouse tomatoes (Gc= 14.6 mm s−1) (Gong et al., 2021). Daily average values of Gc were 3.55, 7.24, 10.67, and 10.14 mm s−1 for the initial, development, middle, and late growing stages over four consecutive planting seasons in this study.