Effect of Organo-mineral Fertilizer on Tomato Fruit Production and Incidence of Blossom-end Rot under Salinity

Abstract

Tomato plants were grown with a drip irrigation system to evaluate the effects of a novel organo-mineral fertilizer [2:10:1 (w/w/w) mixture of calcium sulphate, ground rice bran, and humic acid] (OMF), which can mitigate salinity stress, on plant growth, fruit yield, and the incidence of blossom-end rot (BER) under salinity stress. Salinity stress was applied by drip irrigation with 50 mM of NaCl. Plant growth with OMF was lower than that with chemical fertilizer (CF). Higher levels of K and P were obtained in the leaves from plants grown with OMF. OMF inhibited Na accumulation and proline increase in the leaves and was considered to alleviate salinity stress. Salinity treatment caused a decrease in fruit weight and an increase in ascorbic acid, sucrose, glucose, fructose, and glutamic acid. Tomato plants grown with OMF had smaller fruit than with CF without salinity, but the incidence of BER under salinity was reduced by OMF. The water soluble Ca content of the distal half of young tomato fruit was significantly decreased with salinity treatment. The incidence of BER under salinity was significantly lower in OMF than in CF, but there was no difference in the concentration of every form of Ca between CF-salinity and OMF-salinity treatments. The reduction in BER incidence with OMF treatment could not be explained by the differences in Ca concentration. The mechanism of the reduction in BER with OMF was not clear, so further studies are necessary.

Biofertilizer in leaf and drip applications: an alternative to increase tomato productivity

“…The organic component, as it can be observed in the present work, guaranteed yield and productivity, which corroborates with fruit quality as higher contents of beta-carotene (Lahoz et al, 2016) superoxide dismutase activity and the significant increase in the ascorbic acid contents of mature (Oliveira et al, 2013;Kataok et al, 2017) due to fertilizers organic components.…”

Effects of Different Potassium Nitrate Concentrations and Temperature Conditions on the Elemental Composition and Blossom-end Rot in Paprika (<i>Capsicum annuum</i> L.)

“…It is well established that the addition of KNO 3 increases the electrical conductivity (EC) in the nutrient solution. High EC levels reduce the water potential in the root zone and water uptake (Li and Stanghellini, 2001;Suzuki et al, 2015), which is likely to affect the translocation, localization or distribution of Ca 2+ (Kataoka et al, 2017) and increase the incidence of BER in tomato fruits (Ho and White, 2005). Our and previous results indicate that, as cultivation progressed, Ca uptake from the roots may have been inhibited by high KNO 3 concentrations and high temperatures, which may have prevented Ca transport to the fruits, resulting in no significant correlation between Ca concentration and BER incidence in the first, but not in the last, sampled paprika pericarps (Table 5).…”

“…Mg concentration in the last sampled paprika pericarp was not significantly affected by either KNO 3 concentration or temperature (Table 2), whereas that in the leaves was significantly affected by KNO 3 concentration (Table 4). In tomatoes, salinity is likely to reduce Mg uptake, resulting in a reduction in Mg concentration in both fruits and leaves (Kataoka et al, 2017). Since Mg 2+ is a phloem mobile nutrient (Bukovac and Wittwer, 1957), the Mg concentration in paprika fruit may be maintained at a constant level by retranslocation from the leaves.…”

Impact on Yield, Biomass, Mineral Profile, pH, and Electrical Conductivity of Cherry Tomato Fruit Using a Nutrient Solution and a Silicon-Based Organomineral Fertilizer

“…Organomineral fertilizer-treated plants result in increased fruit quality and yield and increased activity of antioxidant enzymes [5]. Studies suggest that organomineral fertilizer inhibits Na accumulation and proline increase in the leaves and it is considered to alleviate salinity stress [6].…”