Response of Organic & Inorganic Fertilizers to the Growth, Yield and Soil Nutrient Status in Tomato (Lycopersion esculentum)

Abstract

The study was conducted at National Tea & High value crops Research Institute, Shinkiari during 2015-16. The objective of the experiment was to find out the most effective and economical organic & inorganic fertilizer for successive growth of tomato. The variety transplanted was SAHIL. The experiment was laid out in RCB design with 3 replications. Different doses of organic fertilizer and inorganic applied per ha were T1 Control, T2 NPK @100:80:60 kg, T3 Farm Yard Manure @ 20 MT, T4 Farm Yard Manure @ 10 MT + NPK @ 50:40:30 kg, T5 Farm Yard Manure @ 15 MT+ NPK@ 75:60:40 kg, T6 Poultry Manure @ 10 MT, T7 Poultry Manure @ 5 MT+ NPK @ 50:40:30 kg, T8 Poultry Manure @ 7.5 MT+ NPK @ 75:60:40 kg, T9 Farm Yard Manure @ 10 MT+ Poultry Manure @ 5 MT+ NPK@ 50:40:30 kg,. Organic manures in the form of Farm Yard Manure and Poultry manure were applied by side dressing after transplantation while half dose of chemical fertilizers of the total amount was applied at the start of the experiment and the remaining half was applied after 1st irrigation. The observations in respect to increment in plant height, number of branches, number of fruits, fresh fruit weight, total soluble solids, soil pH and % organic matter recorded. Soil samples representing 0-20 and 20-40 cm deep soil analyzed for soil pH, organic matter having soil pH 6.25 & 6.00 respectively& organic matter 2.90% & 0.13 % respectively. It was observed that plant height, number of branches, number of fruits, fresh fruit weight and total soluble solids recorded per plant significantly increased with increment of fertilizer dose. However, soil pH slightly increased with application of fertilizer while organic matter also increased with increasing fertilizer rate but remained unchanged in all the treatments.