Impact of Some Prepared Foliar Fertilizers on Tomato Yield and Fruit Quality

Abstract

Two field trials were carried out in the Fayoum Faculty of Agriculture Experimental Farms at Dar El-Ramad (clay alluvial soil) and Demo (loamy sand soil) in the early summer seasons of the years 2002 and 2003. The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of some foliar compound fertilizers prepared by the authors in comparison with two commercial foliar fertilizers on two tomato cultivars (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) namely, Wadistar and Nema.1400. Yield and fruit content of total sugars, total acidity, total dissolved solids (TSS), and lycopene were estimated.It was generally observed that the compound fertilizers prepared by the authors had better effect on tomato yield/feddan and most of the studied fruit quality characteristics in comparison with those of either the control (recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture) or the two tested commercial fertilizers.Results of the present investigation also indicated that the concentrations of Fe,Mn and Zn in plant leaves were considerably greater in Wadistar cv. than those of Nema.1400 cv. plants. This emphasized the differential varietal response of tomato genotypes to micronutrients cations which should be kept in consideration when planning the actual crop requirements of such nutrients. On the other hand, Nema 1400 cv. fruits contained greater concentrations of total sugars, Lycopene and total soluble solids, but less contents of total acidity than Wadistar cv. fruits. Statistical analysis of data showed highly significant positive correlation coefficient between Lycopene content and each of total sugars and TSS concentrations in tomato fruits.Foliar application with the prepared compound"E" (consisted of N, P, K, Fe, Zn, Mn, citric acid, ascorbic acid and the amino acids cystene, lysine and mithionine, resulted in the greatest total yield per feddan and had the most desirable fruit quality characters followed by "D" which contained N, P, K, Fe, Zn, Mn, citric and ascorbic acids without amino acids.According to the results of this investigation it could be generally concluded that the compound"E" prepared by the authors was the most effective among the studied foliar spray fertilizers., however further studies should be conducted on large experimental fields for final recommendation in this respect.