Effects of Composite Inorganic, Organic Fertilizer and Foliar Spray of Multi-nutrients on Growth, Yield and Quali ty of Cherry Tomato

Abstract

Evaluating fertilizer quality is important in selec ting the appropriate fertilizers for agricultural production. In this experiment, the ef fectiveness of Composite Inorganic Fertilizer (CIF), Composite Organic Fertilizer (COF ) and Foliar Spray of Multi-Nutrients (FSMN) on the growth, yield, and fruit quality of c herry tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were compared. The results showed that the a pplications of fertilizers enhanced the leaf area, photosynthesis rate, fruit setting rate, and average fruit weight, and yield. The fruit setting rate and average yield in COF treatme nt increased by, respectively, 25.16% and 81.91% when compared to the control (without fe rtilization). Also, the contents of reducing saccharide, vitamin C, and lycopene in tom ato fruit improved, especially in the COF treatment, in which the contents of saccharide, vitamin C, and lycopene were higher than the control by 40.84% , 28.74% and 13.97%. Treatment CIF had similar effe cts on growth and yield when compared to COF, but the infl uence of CIF on the fruit quality was lower than that of COF. Meanwhile, treatment CI F also had the highest contents of nitrate and nitrite in the fruit (2.32 and 1.42 mg kg -1 , respectively). In this study, FSMN was ineffective when used separately. Keywords : Nutrition, Lycopene, Photosynthesis, Saccharide, Vitamin C.