Abstract: A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of three irrigation modes (furrow irrigation, drip irrigation, and infiltrating irrigation) on soil respiration through cultivation of tomato. The cumulative amount of CO₂ was determined by alkali absorption method. The results demonstrated that the soil respiration rates of the three treatments all tended to increase at first and then decrease during the growth period, peaking on 28, 30 and 36 days after the first irrigation, respectively. Soil respiration rate was different, and the cumulative CO₂ amount showed significant differences among the three treatments, being 604.46, 529.52 and 448.70 g·m^-2 under furrow irrigation, drip irrigation, and infiltrating irrigation, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that daily average respiration rate had a significant exponential relationship with average daily soil temperature at 5, 15 and 25 cm depths (P<0.05) for furrow irrigation, drip irrigation, and infiltrating irrigation treatments, respectively. A significant linear relationship was found between soil daily average respiration rate and daily average soil water content at 15 cm depth. Thus, choosing a suitable irrigation method could not only create good soil moisture condition for crop growth, but also effectively regulate CO₂ concentration within the greenhouse, which plays an important role in producing high quality vegetables and reducing soil carbon emission.

Key words: newly-established green belt, soil water reservoir, vegetation type, compaction, soil physico-chemical property.