Nitrogen (N) application affects the relationships between tomato transpiration (T), water use efficiency (WUE) and soil water content (SWC), and is important for practical agricultural management. This study investigated T (hourly, T-h, and daily, T-C) and WUE (leaf scale, WUEL, and plant scale, WUEP) differences of tomato grown in a solar greenhouse in response to different N and irrigation treatments. Three N application rates (0, 100 and 200 mg N kg(-1) soil) were applied with four irrigation levels (full irrigation, Wck; and deficit irrigation, half amount of Wck, happened in different growth stage, W1, W2 and W3 respectively). Results showed that N application partly alleviated reductions in T associated with deficit irrigation, and it enhanced the promotion of deficit irrigation in WUEL. In tomato fruit late growth stage (stage 3), a balance is needed between irrigation and N application rate, higher N application can improve T and WUEL under higher irrigation water available. The positive effects of N2 and N3 on T were more pronounced when SWC was in the range of 0.19 - 0.22 cm(3) cm(-3) and 0.22 - 0.26 cm(3) cm(-3), respectively in this study. In tomato fruit early growth stage (stage 1), N application aggravated the reduction in WUEP due to deficit irrigation, while in tomato fruit middle and late growth stages (stage 2 and 3), N application enhanced the promotion of deficit irrigation on WUEP. Generally, in tomato early growth stage, there should be no water shortage and N excess; in fruit middle and late growth stages, more N can be applied along with the increase of SWC. This study proposes a prospect to implement integrative management of irrigation and N application during tomato growth, promoting transpiration and water use efficiency in a scientific way.