The use of thermoreflective screens in order to limit air temperature rising in greenhouses must be based on appropriate management to avoid excessive reduction of solar radiation, due to its importance for horticultural crops development and production such as tomato. Hence, this study aims to compare the microclimates of two greenhouses cultivated with tomato and evaluate their suitability to climatic recommendations for tomato crop provided by the consulted bibliography. For this purpose two different structures were assessed: a greenhouse covered only with reinforced low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a greenhouse covered with reinforced LDPE and retractable thermoreflective screen under management conditions. The experiment was carried out in Rio das Pedras-SP during 08/01/11 to 01/21/12. The thermoreflective screen was used only on sunny days, between 11:00 and 16:00. Air temperature and relative humidity, global radiation and photosynthetically active radiation inside both greenhouses and air temperature of external environment data were collected. The thermoreflective screen significantly reduced the mean values of global solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation and air temperature, while increased air relative humidity. The microclimate of the greenhouse with thermoreflective screen is best suited to the climatic conditions considered appropriated by the bibliography recommendations for tomato cultivation.
thermoreflective screen; management; tomato
