The effect of soilless media and foliar application on the growth and yield of solanum lycopersicum

Abstract

Tomato crop production is currently threatened by a calcium deficient disease called blossom-end rot. To enhance the nutrient intake in the tomato plant, this research explores the potential of soilless media through the enhancement of cation exchange capacity (CEC) and the direct intake of calcium through a foliar application. Zeolite and rice husk ash (RHA) have great potential to enhance the CEC of a media. The foliar method is applied to ensure that the fruits have a sufficient amount of calcium to combat blossom-end rot. The aims of this research are to determine the effect of different soilless media formulation on plant growth and yield of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), and also to determine whether the foliar application can help prevent blossom-end rot disease. Different ratio media formulations of coco peat mixed with zeolite (Z5, Z10, and Z15) and coco peat mixed with RHA (R30, R50, and R100) were evaluated and compared with 100 % coco peat as control. The foliar was applied using 50 ppm chitosan in liquid form for tomatoes planted using the R30 and R50 media. After transplantation, they were sprayed once a week starting from Week 4 until Week 10. Each type of media formulation and a foliar application was planted with 10 tomato plants that were supplied with 1.9 dS/m nutrient solutions. The experiment was conducted for 10 weeks, where the pH of the media, the height of plants, and the weight of fruits were measured weekly. Based on the results, the pH for all media formulations was consistent within the range of pH 5.5 – pH 6.8. The highest marketable yield, 1,628.5 g, was produced by R50 with a size greater than 24 mm. Comparing the RHA and zeolite medium a total of 3,456.0 g of fruits was produced using RHA and 3,209.4 g of fruits using zeolite, making RHA the most suitable soilless media for growing tomatoes. The observation between plant growth with and without foliar chitosan demonstrated that chitosan effectively controls blossom-end rot disease in the tomato plant.