Protein hydrolysates are widely used in agricultural crops for improving plant nutrient uptake, growth, yield, and fruit quality. Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the most important vegetables consumed around the world both for its good taste and rich content in vitamins, minerals, lycopene, and β-carotene. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of new stimulant products based on protein hydrolysates obtained from animal tissue by-products on tomato seedlings. Given the increased intake of amino acids, it is expected that this treatment will exert beneficial effects on the development of certain vigorous seedlings, representing the premise for obtaining superior tomato plants and the improvement of the production and quality of tomato fruit. Two variants of protein gels based on gelatin and keratin hydrolysates were obtained by processing bovine hide and wool and were used for periodical root applications on tomato seedlings cultivated in a greenhouse. During the experiment, the biometric characteristics of seedlings were measured weekly. The content of photosynthetic pigments, dry weight, sugars, and polyphenols were analyzed, and the antioxidant activity was assessed in the leaves. The research performed showed that applied biostimulant treatments increased the content of photosynthetic pigments by 10%, the content of sugars by 75%, and the content of polyphenols by 16% compared to the control untreated variant. Between the variants of protein gels tested, the best results were obtained by applying a mixture of bovine gelatin and keratin.

Nowadays people are turning to sustainable/ecological agriculture. Romanian local varieties with valuable traits can be used to develop novel organic varieties. Nine Romanian tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and seven pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties were compared during seedling emergence in growth chamber and greenhouse conditions. The aim of this study was to observe the variation of several emergence indicators among the varieties of the same species under the same growing conditions, differences that can be correlated with genotype variation in further genotyping research, with the final goal of using these results as a basis for genotype-assisted breeding programs. The present survey demonstrated significant differences in the emergence indicators among the varieties studied, both in the growth chamber and in the greenhouse growing conditions. Ștefănești 24 tomato variety stood out with the longest mean emergence time, mean emergence rate, synchrony and highest uncertainty of emergence, whereas Vladimir pepper variety had the lowest values for percentage of emergence, homogeneity and uncertainty of emergence.