Influence of root dressings on the yield of tomato hybrid in spring film greenhouses

Abstract

Vegetable production by way of protected cultivation is currently developing in Ukraine as a dynamic and effective branch of agriculture. This is extremely important for providing the population with vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals, although the development of this branch does not provide for all of the population's needs. One of the ways to increase vegetable production is to increase the yield of protected cultivation cultures; this may be achieved with the well-grounded use of growth stimulants. To solve the problem of increasing the yield of the culture it is necessary in scientific and practical vegetable growing to research the influence of a root application of growth stimulants on tomato yield in the conditions of protected cultivation, particularly in spring film greenhouses. During the study, the plants were treated according to general recommendations for vegetable cultures. The article presents experimental data of three-year research on the use of biologically active natural substances, among which are Radifarm, Viva, Potassium humate and Kornevin, obtained during the cultivation of indeterminate type Signora F1 tomato hybrid. The study determines the phenologic and biometric properties of plants and establishes that the parameters of tomato plants had significant differences of biometrics when biologics were used. The research revealed the consistent patterns of using growth stimulants changing the formation of tomato yield. Using Radifarm biological resulted in a 28.6 % yield increase compared to the clean sample. The study established the effective influence of used biologics on the content of dry matter and main chemicals in tomato fruits. Among the researched biologics, using Radifarm provided the highest content of dry matter and sugar, while Kornevin provided the highest content of ascorbic acid. Economic calculations showed the high effectiveness of biologics used for root applications, especially of the Radifarm biological. It provided the highest yield and cash proceeds – 22.9 kg/m2 and 233 UAH respectively, which is 25.5 % higher than the control group. Years of research established that using biologics that stimulate root system growth provides increases in yield and profitability level to the producers.