Moisture tension above 12 kPa was not successfully controlled. They are valuable because they sense moisture tension directly in the root zone. If ideal upper and lower soil-moisture tension limits can be specified, these sensors can be programmed with the use of appropriate computer software and hardware to cycle irrigation on and off.
Optimum growth can occur while water is being conserved.
If nutrients are injected into the water as a part of fertigation, then ideal control would provide sufficient nutrients for best growth but no more. Abdel-Rahman et al. Fynn et al. Typical settings for each treatment are shown in Table 1 for Run No. 1 and Table 2 for Run No. 2. Treatment No. 4 was timed to irrigate at 0900 hr.