MSc

A study entitled ‗Performance evaluation of tomato in soilless culture‘ was carried out at College of Agriculture, Vellayani during August 2014- December 2014 with the objectives of standardizing the growth media, scheduling of nutrients and to work out economics of different treatments. Manulakshmi was the variety used in the study and the experiment comprised of two pot culture experiments, laid out in CRD.
First experiment was to standardize the growth media for soilless culture. The experiment consisted of eight treatments, namely, Coir pith + FYM (1:1), Coir pith + FYM (1:2), Coir pith compost + FYM (1:1), Coir pith compost + FYM (2:1), Coir pith compost alone, Neopeat + FYM (1:1), Neopeat + FYM (1:2) and Potting mixture (1:1:1 soil, sand and FYM), replicated thrice. The results showed that Coir pith compost + FYM (2:1) was the best media which recorded maximum fruits per plant (23.41), fruit weight (35.43g) and yield per plant (883.46g) and hence was selected for the Part II study.
Second experiment was to standardize nutrient schedule for soilless culture of tomato. The experiment with twelve treatments replicated four times consisted of four nutrient sources - fermented groundnut cake (S1), incubated groundnut cake + PGPR mix 1(S2), as chemical fertilizers in solid form(S3) and as chemical fertilizers in liquid form(S4) and three nutrient levels - Package of practices recommendations (POP)(N1-75:40:25 kg NPK ha-1), 75 % of POP(N2-56:30:19 kg NPK ha-1) and 125 % of POP(N3-94:50:31 kg NPK ha-1).
The results of the study indicated that incubated groundnut cake + PGPR mix 1(S2) was the best nutrient source which recorded early flowering (25.50 days), maximum fruit length (6.32cm), fruit girth (13.35cm), fruit weight (35.12g), yield per plant (723.21g), water use efficiency (7.00 gL-1), highest net income (4.79 Rs bag-1) and BCR (1.69) .
Among the different nutrient levels tried, 125 % of POP (N3) recorded early flowering (25.50 days), early fruit set (7.50 days) maximum number of inflorescence per plant (4.94), fruits per plant (21.56), fruit length (6.43cm), fruit
girth (12.71cm), yield per plant (687.31g), water use efficiency (6.70gL-1), highest net income (5.50 Rs bag-1) and BCR (1.61).
The results revealed that combined effect (n3s2) of incubated groundnut cake + PGPR mix 1(S2) at 125 % of POP (N3) gave a fruit set percentage of 57.46 % with 20.60 fruits per plant. n3s2 recorded early flowering (25.50 days), maximum number of inflorescence per plant (6.25), fruit girth (13.65cm), fruit weight (37.30g), yield per plant (901.85g), water use efficiency (8.70 gL-1), highest net income (9.02 Rs bag-1) and BCR (2.02).
Both the nutrient levels and nutrient sources failed to show any significant effect on biochemical properties like lycopene and ascorbic acid content and pest and disease incidence.
Coir pith compost +FYM (2:1) was found to be the best soilless media for tomato cultivation in grow bags. Incubated groundnut cake at 125 % of Package of Practices nutrient recommendations (94:50:31 kg NPK ha-1) + PGPR mix 1(2%) was found to be the most economic nutrient schedule for soilless tomato cultivation in grow bags.