Effect of Selenium on Growth and Chemical Properties of Tomato Hybrid Salar F1

Abstract

An experiment was carried out in plots during 2016 and 2017 to evaluate the effect of different levels of selenium application in irrigation water and foliar spray on physicochemical parameters of tomato hybrid Salar F1 grown in simple plastic tunnels using randomized complete block design. The data showed that plant height in centimeter, buds, flower, leaves and leaflets in numbers per plants with a range of 131.33 to 176.67 cm, 60 to 105, 41.5 to 60.0, 50.66 to 77.167 and 7.607 to 15.33, 30.33 to 82.0, respectively were significantly affected (P<0.05) by the interaction of selenium application in irrigation and foliar spray in relation to season. The effect was also significant (P<0.05) on some minerals like Cu, Mn, Zinc, Mg and Se that ranged from 0.2080 to 0.3150, 0.1260 to 0.2520, 0.2012 to 0.2970 and 18.04 to 32.09, 0.2147 to 0.5257 mg/Kg, respectively. Most of the proximate parameters of leaves like moisture, ash, crude fiber, crude protein, crude fat ranged from 92.082 to 92.317, 3.097 to 3.85, 4.9133 to 5.2717, 5.0133 to 5.2867, 1.08 to 1.24, 0.0236 to 1.9567 g/100g and that of fruits with lesser values were also affected significantly (P<0.05). From the present study it was concluded that Se applied in the form of sodium selenite in irrigation and foliar spray considerably affected the physical parameter of tomato hybrid Salar F1, followed by proximate composition while minerals content was less affected. It is recommended that selenium may be added in moderate amount to plants for their physical well-being and for improvement of some chemical parameters.