Effects of bacterial and fungal bio-fertilizers on yield and quality of soilless-grown cluster tomato

 Alternate partial root-zone drying (PRD) irrigation and deficit irrigation (DI) are water-saving irrigation strategies. Here, comparative effects of PRD and DI on fruit quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were investigated. The results showed that the irrigation treatments had no effect on tomato yield but significantly affected several organic and mineral quality attributes of the fruits. Compared to DI, PRD significantly increased the fruit concentrations of Ca and Mg, and fruit juice concentrations of total soluble solid, glucose, fructose, citric and malic acid, P, K and Mg. It is concluded that PRD is better than DI in terms of improving fruit quality, and could be a promising management strategy for simultaneous increase of water use efficiency and fruit quality in tomatoes.

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a popular vegetable in many parts of the world. The role of potassium in plant metabolism, growth, and development and its significance in production of marketable fruit and on fruit flavor and visual appearance are known. It is not clear how hybrids and nonhybrids, which differ greatly in growth and yield, respond to potassium. The tomato cvs. Pant T-3 (nonhybrid) and Avinash-2 (hybrid) were treated with three levels of potassium at 200, 300, and 400 mg·L−1 in Hoagland nutrient solution culture. ‘Avinash-2’ produced more fruit than the nonhybrid cv. Pant T-3. Fruit production increased as potassium concentration increased in both cvs., but magnitude of yield was greater for the nonhybrid cultivar. The highest leaf chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, and potassium contents were in plants treated with 300 mg·L−1 K in both cultivars. There was significant improvement in protein, ascorbic acid, lycopene, total soluble solids, reducing sugar levels, and titratable acidity in fruit as K concentration increased up to 300 mg·L−1. The cv. Pant T-3 responded better to K concentration than did ‘Avinash-2’. Application of adequate potassium is necessary to improve yield and quality of tomato and K availability had a role in improving fruit production and quality of a nonhybrid tomato more so than in a hybrid tomato cultivar.

Foliar application of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) is a promising strategy in modern agriculture. This method has shown significant potential in enhancing tomato yields, improving fruit quality, and increasing nutrient uptake. An experiment was conducted in cocopeat media under glasshouse conditions at Ladang 15, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2020 to evaluate the effectiveness of various doses of ZnO-NPs on plant growth, yield, nutrient uptake, and fruit quality in terms of profitability. A total of ten treatments were evaluated, consisting of five levels of ZnO-NPs (0 ppm, 25 ppm, 50 ppm, 75 ppm, and 100 ppm) and two tomato varieties (MARDI Tomato 1 and MARDI Tomato 3). The experiment utilized a split-plot design with four replications. The results indicated that the application of 100 ppm ZnO-NPs produced the maximum measures of plant growth and fruit quality, including the highest number of primary branches per plant (27.75), leaf area (27.80 cm²), photosynthetic rate (33.05 µmol/m²/s), stomatal conductance (1.01 mol/m²/s), fruit length (4.55 cm), fruit diameter (4.33 cm), number of fruits per plant (52.75), fruit yield (53.85 t/ha), ascorbic acid content (26.13 mg/100 g), zinc content in fruits (52.25 mg/kg), total zinc uptake (102.34 mg/plant), and a benefit-cost ratio of 3.39. Moreover, among the tested varieties, MT3 outperformed MT1. Therefore, a foliar application of 100 ppm ZnO-NPs is recommended as the optimal dose for tomato cultivation. This approach promotes healthier plants and superior fruit quality and supports more sustainable and productive agricultural practices while minimizing environmental harm. Additionally, further research is necessary to explore higher dosages of ZnO-NPs in tomato production to establish the best dose for optimizing output.

Optimizing irrigation frequency and amount to balance yield, fruit quality and water use efficiency of greenhouse tomato

Root-zone aeration improves fruit yield and quality of tomato by enhancement of leaf photosynthetic performance

To investigate the effects of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on tomato fruit quality and flavor, a study was conducted using the tomato cultivar Gaotang No. 1 under three irrigation treatments: 1) conventional irrigation at 24 L·m –2 per application, 2) irrigation treatment 1 at a 50% reduction of 12 L·m –2 per application), and 3) treatment 2 (T2) at a 25% reduction of 18 L·m –2 per application. The effects of RDI on tomato plant growth, yield, fruit quality, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were evaluated. Results showed that T2 reduced yield significantly (–26.55%), but enhanced fruit firmness (35.57% increase in shoulder hardness), soluble solids content (14.56%), vitamin C content (44.19%), and the sugar-to-acid ratio (2.25%). Volatile analysis revealed that T2 increased markedly the concentration of key aroma compounds, with odor activity values (OAVs) > 10. C 9 and C 10 volatiles comprised 55.56% of aroma-active compounds (OAV > 1) with T2, some of which may originate from the lipoxygenase (LOX) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) pathways, reflecting that RDI activates the LOX and HPL pathways to enrich flavor. The findings confirm that moderate RDI (25% reduction) balances yield and fruit quality effectively by improving texture, nutritional value, and aroma complexity, offering a promising strategy for water-efficient, quality-focused tomato production.

The effects of four root-volume restrictions (1, 6, 16, and 26 L per plant) and water and salinity stresses on the yield and quality of processing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill. ‘NDM051TM’), including the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content, were investigated under open-field and greenhouse conditions with a fertigation system. In open-field conditions, salinity treatment of EC 5 dS/m in nutrient solution did not increase the total soluble solids (TSS) or GABA content. In salinity treatment of nutrient solution (EC 7 dS/m), TSS (Brix %) was 57% higher and GABA content was 22% higher than non-salinity treatment in a greenhouse. Under open-field conditions, salinity treatment (EC 7 dS/m) and the soil water level of pF 2.7 increased the TSS, but only to 7.0 Brix %, lower than that observed under the salinity-stress conditions in a greenhouse. In addition, salinity stress did not increase the GABA content of tomato fruits under open-field conditions, but tended to increase TSS and GABA under salinity stress with 1 and 6 L root-volume restriction treatment than in 16 L and 26 L treatment. In addition, root-volume restriction suppressed the growth of shoots, especially lateral-shoot elongation, and also decreased the number of tomato fruits produced, but the effects of root-volume restriction on fruit yield were less than salinity stress.

Fertigation was found technically and economically feasible for tomato cultivation in winter as well as in summer. An experiment was conducted with summer tomato (BARI Hybrid Tomato–4) having 2 drip irrigation levels with different levels of NPK and micronutrient (B, Zn, and Mg) during kharif-1 seasons of 2007 and 2008. The fertilizer levels were N100 P55 K120 kg/ha, N100 P55 K120 B1 Zn4 Mg4 kg/ha, N100 P70 K140 kg/ha and N100 P70 K140 B2 Zn6 Mg8 kg/ha and the irrigation levels were drip irrigation at 2 days interval and drip irrigation at 3 days interval. The highest marketable yield of summer tomato (35.90 t/ha and 27.12 t/ha) were obtained from the fertigation treatment with fertilizer doses of N100 P55 K120 B1 Zn4 Mg4 kg/ha irrigated at 2 days interval in 2007 and 2008. The cull yield was also the lowest (2.53 t/ha and 1.15 t/ha) in this treatment in both the years. The lowest tomato yield (20.50 t/ha and 18.29 t/ha) were obtained from the treatment with fertilizer doses N100 P70 K140 kg/ha irrigated at 2 days interval where no micronutrients were used. Fruit quality parameters like TSS, Vitamin-C and ?-carotene were also the highest for the best yielder. So, use of micronutrients with NPK showed a significant effect on quality fruits as well as yield of summer tomato. The best yielder treatment received 261.0 mm of seasonal water including an effective rainfall of 60.5 mm during the crop seasons. The highest BCR (4.41) was also found in the same treatment. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 37(3): 449-456, September 2012 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v37i3.12088

A trial was conducted at the Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences,Prayagraj (UP) during 2022. This study investigates the “Effect of Plant Growth Regulators (GA3 and NAA) on growth, yield and quality of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.).” The purpose of the study is to evaluate the plants in terms of various parameters such as plant height, survival percentage, days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, number of flower clusters per plant, number of fruit set per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant, fruit yield per hectare, total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid, and benefit-cost ratio. The results of thestudy indicate that the application of increased percentage of NAA and GA3 significantly improvedthe growth and yield tomatoes. The highest fruit yield, fruit weight, TSS, and ascorbic acid contentwere observed in the plants treated with GA3 @60ppm + NAA @60ppm. The benefit- cost ratio wasalso found to be higher in the treated plants compared to the control. Overall, the study suggests thatthe application of GA3 @60ppm + NAA @60ppm can be an effective and sustainable method for enhancing the growth, yield, and quality of Tomatoes.

Water management is a key factor to optimize fruit quality and yield of processing tomatoes which are site-specific and influenced by environmental conditions e.g., soil, temperature, precipitation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacity of a low-cost wireless soil moisture sensor in determining the irrigation level for optimizing the marketable yield, fruit quality and economic profit of processing tomato. A two-years (2017–2018) trial was conducted in open field, applying nine drip irrigation levels controlled by wireless soil moisture capacitance sensors. The irrigation levels were as follows: 13.2, 16.7, 25.4, 33.3, 50.0, 62.3, 82.5, 100 and 186.8% of water restitution based on soil moisture sensor readings. Because of the crop stress induced by heavy rainfalls occurring in 2018 growing season, total and marketable yields reached higher maximum values in 2017 than 2018. In 2017, total and marketable yields were maximized by supplying 92.8% and 96.2% of irrigation level, respectively. Moreover, 95.6% and 91.2% of irrigation level were necessary in 2018 to maximize total and marketable yield, respectively. In both growing seasons, marketable yield variation was due to changes of both fruit number and fruit mean weight. Total soluble solids of fruit juice linearly decreased by increasing the irrigation level with a more pronounced effect in the driest growing season (2017). Economic analysis demonstrated that 100% of irrigation level should be preferred by the Italian farmers since it maximized the operating margins of processing tomatoes in both years. To conclude, the use of the tested low-cost wireless soil moisture sensor is an effective tool to manage the level of irrigation and optimize the processing tomato yield and economic benefits for farmers.

The use of coatings is a technique used to increase postharvest life of the fruit. Almond gum exudate was used, in comparison with gum arabic, at concentrations of 10% as a novel edible coating, to preserve the quality parameters of tomato (Solanumlycopersicum). Fruits were harvested at the mature-green stage of ripening. Results showed that the coatings delayed significantly (p < 0.05) the changes in color, weight loss, firmness, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, soluble solids concentration, and decay percentage compared to uncoated control fruits. Sensory evaluation proved the efficacy of 10% almond gum and gum arabic coatings to maintain the overall quality of tomato fruits during storage period (20 days). In addition, the difference between gum arabic and almond gum coatings was not significant (p > 0.05) except for pulp color. Therefore, we can suggest the use of almond gum exudate as a novel edible coating extends the shelf-life of tomato fruits on postharvest.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the important vegetables in the world due to large production area and consumer interest. Biotic and abiotic stresses have negative effect on tomato production. Utilisation of rootstocks conferring resistance to biotic stresses can be considered as the most effective and environment friendly solution in tomato production to overcome this problem. Although wild tomato species is a good rootstock candidate due to its resistance to multiple plant diseases, effects of wild tomato species as rootstock on mineral nutrient composition and fruit quality are not clear. In the present study, effects of interspecific hybrids derived from two wild tomato species (Solanum habrochaites and Solanum penellii) as rootstock on tomato fruit mineral nutrient composition (phosphor (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu)) and fruit quality traits (soluble solids content (SSC), pH, percent titratable acidity (TA), and lycopene content) were evaluated. In the study, Amaron, Armstrong, and Arazi commercial rootstocks were used as control and AK0004 F1 (candidate tomato hybrid) was used as a source of scion. As result, only lycopene content was affected by different rootstocks. S. penellii was found to be with more potential for lycopene content. For mineral nutrient composition, all hybrids and controls had similar contents of potassium, phosphor, calcium, and magnesium. Manganese and copper contents decreased in all plants. S. habrochaites had more potential regarding nitrogen, iron, and zinc contens than S. penellii. This is the first study to evaluate two interspecific hybrids derived from S. habrochaites and S. penellii, and the results might be useful to understand effects of rootstocks derived from wild tomato species on mineral nutrient content and fruit quality.

The present investigation was conducted to find out the response of zinc and boron on improvement of growth, yield and quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cv. Azad T-6. The experiment was layout in Randomized Block Design with three replication and 12 treatments. Treatment combinations are T0-Control (water spray), T1-Zinc (50 ppm), T2-Zinc (100 ppm), T3-Zinc (150 ppm), T4-Boron (50 ppm), T5-Boron (100 ppm), T6-Boron (150 ppm), T7-Zinc (50 ppm)+Boron (50 ppm), T8-Zinc (100 ppm)+Boron (100 ppm), T9-Zinc (150 ppm)+Boron (150 ppm), T10-Zinc (100ppm)+Boron (50 ppm), T11-Zinc (150 ppm)+Boron (50 ppm). It was found that the vegetative growth in terms of plant height and number of branches at various stages (30, 60 and 90 Days after transplanting) was greatly influenced by the application of micronutrients Zn and B. Among them treatment T5-Boron (100 ppm) significantly increased the plant height (61.23 cm at 90 DAT) and number of branches (16.17 plant−1 at 90 DAT) compared to others. Whereas, application of zinc and boron each at 100 ppm (T8) caused early flowering (31.95 DAT) as well as showed maximum number of flowers (75.21) and fruit yield (93.10 t ha−1). It was also revealed that the treatment T8 improved the physico-chemical qualities of tomato fruits specially improved the TSS:acid ratio (10.98). Thus, the study indicated that application of boron and zinc either solely or in combination is quite beneficial for vegetative growth, flowering and fruiting as well as quality improvement of tomato fruits (Azad T-6) grown under high pH soil (pH 8.2) of Lucknow.

Potassium has significant effect on quantity and quality of tomato yield because of its vital roles in photosynthesis, favoring high energy status and appropriate nutrient translocation and water uptake in plants. However, little is understood or it is being overlooked under Eritrean condition. Besides, poor soil fertility is among the major production constraints in Eritrea. The field experiment was therefore conducted to investigate the effect of potassium levels on productivity and fruit quality of tomato at Hamelmalo, Eritrea. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with nine potassium levels (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 kg K2O/ha) replicated thrice. Data was collected on yield and fruit quality parameters and they were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (1-way ANOVA). The results of this study revealed that potassium had significant effect in all yield and quality parameters studied. Fruit diameter, fruit weight per plant, total yield, total soluble solids, specific gravity and fruit dry matter content showed significant increase with an increase in potassium level from 0 to 150 kg K2O/ha and thereafter decreased while fruit moisture content was increased in the range of 150 - 400 kg K2O/ha. As a result, highest fruit weight (1.39 kg/plant), fruit yield (15.45 t/ha), total soluble solids (3.84 oBrix), specific gravity, (1.46) and fruit dry matter (5.68%) were recorded from 150 kg K2O/ha. Therefore it is recommended that potassium fertilizers should be used and balanced NPK fertilizers should be applied to improve yield and quality of tomato produced.

This study evaluated the effects of biochar-based mixed substrates on the growth, yield, and fruit quality of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and evaluated their potential as an alternative to conventional coir substrates.Five treatments were established: coir dust (T1, control) and four biochar-based mixtures with varying ratios of biochar, peatmoss, and perlite (T2: 3:7:0, T3: 3:0:7, T4: 1:1:1, T5: 2:1:1).Plant growth parameters (plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, leaf number, and inflorescence number), substrate physicochemical properties, drainage pH and EC, yield, and fruit quality were measured.Coir (T1) exhibited greater water retention, while the mixed substrates had higher porosity and lower bulk density, enhancing aeration.Heavy metal concentrations in all substrates were below fertilizer regulation thresholds, ensuring safety.Drainage EC gradually increased during the late growth stage across all treatments, likely due to salt accumulation, but remained within acceptable limits.All biochar-based substrates produced equal or higher total and marketable yields compared to coir dust, while fruit quality did not differ significantly among treatments.There result demonstrate that biochar, peatmoss, perlite mixtures are feasible substitute for replacing imported coir offering a sustainable cultivation model that promote resource recycling and low-carbon horticulture.