A two-year tomato production under different fertilizer treatments

Tomato is an important vegetable for human nutrition. It is grown intensively in the Mediterranean basin under temperate climate in Turkey. Production is mostly undertaken in greenhouse conditions. One of the problems of tomato production is continuous production in the same area causing depletion of plant nutrients. In order to avoid this problem, fertilizers are applied prevalently. Organic liquid fertilizers and vermicompost are good alternatives to synthetic fertilizers with being natural and rich mineral content. Moreover, humic acid and mycorrhiza are useful soil regulating agents (biostimulants) supporting plant growth. The effect of different combinations of organic fertilizer, vermicompost with humic acid and mycorrhiza were investigated for tomato crops grown for two years under greenhouse conditions. Eight treatments using no fertilizer (control), synthetic fertilizer (positive control) and organic fertilizers and biostimulants were compared using completely randomized block designed experiment with 3 replicates. Tomato fruit height, diameter and weight and total plant dry weight were determined as fruit yield and plant biomass. The highest plant dry weight and fruit yield were obtained in organic fertilizer and mycorrhiza combination treatment, this followed by vermicompost and mycorrhiza combination treatment. Organic based fertilizers and mycorrhiza were shown to be good fertilizer combinations for high tomato productivity. © 2020 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.