Yield and quality of tomato produced on substrates and with application of humic acids

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the yield and quality of tomato fruits, hybrid "Vênus", produced on substrates and with application of nutrient solution and humic acids (AH). Four doses of AH were evaluated (0, 20, 40 and 80 L ha-1) and 4 substrates: S1 (coconut fiber (CF)), S2 (FC + carbonized coffee husk (CC) in the ratio 1:3), S3 (CF + CC in the ratio 2:3) and S4 (CC), were evaluated following the randomized blocks design in factorial 4x4 scheme with four replications. The 35-day old seedlings were transplanted into plastic bags of 7 L. The humic acids were applied four times in eight-day intervals, and the first application was carried out eight days after transplanting. There was no significant effect of AH on the yield and quality of fruit, except in relation to soluble solids (SS)/titratable acidity (AT). Doses of up to 36 L ha-1, increase the AT, above that amount favored increase of SS. The carbonized coffee husk in treatments S2, S3 and S4, did not alter the production of small fruits, medium, non-commercial, moisture, pH, SS, AT and SS/AT, however, significantly reduced the total production, commercial and large size fruit. The production of fruits in S1 was significantly higher compared to the other treatments, with an average of 142.6 t ha-1, showing average increase in yield of 24.4%, 29.3% and 36.1% compared to plant of treatments S2, S3 and S4, respectively.

Responses of tomato hybrid cultivars to soil application of humic acid under greenhouse conditions

“…Padem and Ocal (1999) showed that just a single application of HA during the plant growth cycle was sufficient to increase vitamin C content in tomato fruits grown for processing industry. TA of tomato fruits has been reported to increase with increasing doses of HA application, though remained in the range of 0.3-0.5% citric acid (Lima et al, 2011;George et al, 2004;Asri and Demirtas, 2015). Similarly, TSS and dry matter content of tomato fruits have been reported to increase by the application of HA @ 10-20 mL L -1 (Yildirim, 2007).…”

“…HA has been reported to improve seed germination (Dinu et al, 2014), growth of seedlings, uptake of plant nutrients (Motaghi, 2014;Dinu et al, 2015), and fruits growth and development (Khaled and Fawy, 2011;Shehata et al, 2011;Mahmoudi et al, 2013) by enhancing photosynthesis (Liu and Cooper, 2002), increasing activities of rhizosphere microbiome, or by stimulating phytohormones (Kazemi, 2013;Asri and Demirtas, 2015;Lotfi et al, 2015) in many crops. In addition to species and variety of crop plants, the beneficial effects of HA on plant growth and productivity, however, largely depend on the origin of the material, the molecular size and the dose of HA (Lima et al, 2011;Shahmaleki et al, 2014). A judicious combination of HA with chemical fertilizers may, therefore, help to improve the performance of low fertile soils and/or of the crops grown under desert climate (Sajid et al, 2012).…”

Micronutrient Fertiliser Reinforcement by Fulvate–Lignosulfonate Coating Improves Physiological Responses in Tomato

“…In some cases, no effects caused by HS were observed, and some reports have questioned their use because they did not produce any significant results [63,64]. In any case, the effects of HS on plants depend on different factors, including origin, concentration and culture method [65,66].…”

“…However, the benefits depend largely on the HSs' organic nature, industrial processing, concentrations, soil properties, and culture methods [19]. In fact, a lack of efficiency due to different aspects, like rapid lixiviation [26] or overdosing, has sometimes been reported [27].…”

Calidad poscosecha del tomate (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivado en sistemas ecológicos de fertilización

“…La utilización de productos que ejercen funciones biorreguladoras y bioestimuladoras del crecimiento vegetal constituye la base de la fertilidad del suelo y su papel capital presenta un triple aspecto: físico, químico y biótico (Milic et al, 2004;Nardi et al, 2009;Ordookhani et al, 2010;De Lima et al, 2011).…”