TITLE:
Optimizing Yield and Nutrients Content in Tomato by Vermicompost Application under Greenhouse Conditions
AUTHORS:
Syed Ishtiaq Hyder, Muhammad Farooq, Tariq Sultan, Arshad Ali, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Zahid Kiani, Shahbaz Ahmad, Tausif Tabssam
KEYWORDS:
Vermicompost, PGPR, Tomato, Yield, Nutrients and Humic Acid
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
24,
2015
ABSTRACT: Optimizing yield and nutrients content in crop production is the high time demand of arable farming. Vermicompost furnishes one of the most promising alternatives to costly chemical fertilizer. Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was conducted at NARC, Islamabad, to investigate the effect of different levels of vermicompost [having C/N=15/1 and 14 Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR)] on growth, yield and nutrients content in hybrid tomato (National Tunnel Tomato-04-08) under greenhouse conditions during Rabi 2015. The data revealed that different rates (0.5 t·ha-1, 1 t·ha-1, 1.5 t·ha-1 and 2 t·ha-1) of vermicompost produced varied and significant (P -1) at the application of 2.0 t vermicompost ha-1 followed by 3.226 t·ha-1 where vermicompost was applied @ 1.5 t·ha-1. N, P and K content in tomato fruit and plant increased significantly with the application of increasing levels of vermicompost. The highest content of N (3.7%), P (0.67%), K (5.17%) in tomato fruit and N (3.4%), P (0.32%), K (3.2%) in tomato plant respectively were registered with soil application of vermicompost @ 2.0 t·ha-1. This study confirms that the vermicompost has a tremendous potential of plant nutrients supply for sustainable crop production.