Effects of organic matter and silicon on growth, yield and fruit quality of grape tomato under water-deficit stress | |
| Author | Jutarat Sonprom |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AS-21-01 |
| Subject(s) | Plants--Effect of drought on Crops--Effect of drought on Plants--Effect of silicates on Tomatoes |
| Note | A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Agricultural Systems and Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | In the current study, the effect of water deficit stress or drought on growth, yield, and fruit quality of grape tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiform) was studied in a greenhouse experiment carried out at Asian Institute of Technology, district Khlong Luang, province Pathumthani, Thailand, during November 2020 to February 2021. Treatments were organized in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors, four replications to investigate the individual and interactive effects of soil moisture (severe drought stress: 50% FC; moderate drought stress: 75% FC; and no drought stress: 100% FC) and different fertilizer application dose such as NP100, NP100 + OM100, NP100 + Si100, NP100 + OM100 + Si100, NP75 + OM25 + Si100, NP75 + OM25 + Si100, and OM100 + Si100. The result revealed that under severe drought conditions (50% FC) circumstances highly significantly decreased agronomic characteristics and production of grape tomatoes was substantially reduced, and fertilizer dosages were also ineffective, although an improvement in fruit color and TSS. At moderate water availability (75%FC) as well as well-irrigated condition (100%FC), the fertilizer combinations NP100 + OM100, NP100 + OM100 + Si100, and NP50 + OM50 + Si100 increased fruit yield, irrigation water productivity, and also improving SPAD value and LRWC in grape tomato. Furthermore, the results of this experiment demonstrated that adding OM and Si fertilizer via the soil without any essential nutrients such as NP resulted in poor performance in all parameters evaluated. Similarly, sole NP fertilizer treatment was ineffective in improving grape tomato growth, yield, water productivity, fruit quality, and physiological characteristics. For almost all of the investigated parameters, the fertilizer combination of NP50 + OM50 + Si100 produced statistically identical optimal outcomes to NP100 + OM100 and NP100 + OM100 + Si100 and also requires the amount of OM and Si less than 50% when compared to the other two treatments. Thus, NP50 + OM50 + Si100 fertilizer combination might be highly suggested as a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective technique for producing grape tomato under moderate (75%FC) to well-irrigated (100%FC) soil moisture conditions to achieve maximum crop productivity with less volume of chemical fertilizers (NP), while using the appropriate amount of Si and OM to improve tomato plant drought tolerance. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural Systems and Engineering (ASE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Datta, Avishek |
| Examination Committee(s) | Bhujel, Ram C.;Ullah, Hayat |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |