Vermicompost and NPK Fertilizer Effects on Morpho-Physiological Traits of Plants, Yield and Quality of Tomato Fruits: (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Abstract

Vermicompost and NPK Fertilizer Effects on Morpho-Physiological Traits of Plants, Yield and Quality of Tomato Fruits: (Solanum lycopersicum L.) A field experiment was conducted with an objective to investigate the effects of vermicompost and NPK fertilizer application on morpho-physiological traits, yield and quality attributes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) with an ultimate aim of optimizing nutrient requirements of tomato in mild-tropical agro-climate. The application of vermicompost together with NPK fertilizer increased plant height, leaf area, leaf weight, fruit weight, fruit yield, fruit density, post-harvest life and TSS of tomato. Application of vermicompost alone too increased the shelf-life by 250% and TSS beyond 4.5%, both of which are traits highly desirable for summer production of tomato and the related processing industry. Present study reveals that application of vermicompost in the amount of 7.5 t·ha-1 in combination with 50% dose of NPK fertilizer (60:30:30 kg·ha-1) was optimum for obtaining better quality and productivity of field grown tomatoes in mild-tropical agro-climate, eventually integrated nutrient supply will sustain the soil fertility and plant productivity eco-friendly.

The integrated use of excreta-based vermicompost and inorganic NP fertilizer on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit yield, quality and soil fertility

“…Urea and triple super phosphate (TSP) were used as a source of N and P, respectively. 15 ton ha -1 of vermicompost was considered as a full dose for tomato (Singh et al 2010).…”

“…Besides supplying the essential nutrients, the positive effect of vermicompost on the growth of tomato might be related to the presence of plant growth regulators, humic acids, increased microbial diversity and activity and improvement of physical structure of the soil (Arancon et al 2005;OlivaLlaven et al 2008;Fernández-Luqueño et al 2010;Singh et al 2010). Thus, vermicompost might have an additive effect in enhancing the growth and development of the crop when integrated with the mineral fertilizer.…”

“…7.5 ton ha -1 of vermicompost (T3) exceeded the control treatment by about 14.47 and 12.45%, respectively. The superiority of the integrated application of nutrients may be due to the positive response of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients combination in increasing the translocation and accumulation of photosynthetes in the plants (Singh et al 2010). Moreover, the efficacy of vermicompost is supposed to be enhanced due to certain hormonal activity associated with it.…”

“…Increased productivity of cultivated land, reduced costs of production and higher input use efficiency with no harm to the soil, ground water, environment and product quality are the current development strategies of vegetable production (Singh et al 2010). There is no doubt that chemical fertilizers are playing a vital role to meet the nutrient requirement of crops and thereby increase their production.…”

“…The poor soil respiration rate and complete vanishing of natural decomposer communities from agro-ecosystems further threatens land sustainability and food security around the world (Suthar 2009). Besides the ecological concerns, the rising cost of chemical fertilizers coupled with the low affordability to small holder farmers have led to growing interests among the scientific and farming community to shift their attention from chemical alone agriculture to integrated nutrient management strategy which utilizes both organic and inorganic nutrient forms (Singh et al 2010). Since the nutrient turnover in soil plant system is considerably high in intensive farming, neither the chemical fertilizers nor the organic and biological sources alone can achieve production sustainability (Javaria and Khan 2011).…”