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Associated Authors:1Department of Vegetable Science,ACHF, Navsari AgricultureUniversity, NAVSARI (GUJARAT)INDIA

2ASPEE, Agricultural Research andDevelopment Foundation, Malad (W),MUMBAI (M.S.) INDIA

Article history :Received : 06.06.2014Revised : 18.09.2014Accepted : 04.10.2014

Author for correspondence :P.B. JADHAVASPEE, Agricultural Research andDevelopment Foundation, Malad (W),MUMBAI (M.S.) INDIAEmail :tropicalsubtropical@gmail.com

Effect of foliar application of micronutrients intomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cv.GUJARAT TOMATO-2

S.N. SARAVAIYA1, S.S. WAKCHAURE1, P.B. JADHAV, G.S. TEKALE1, N.B.PATIL2 AND S.S. DEKHANE2

HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE

ABSTRACT : The present investigation was undertaken with the main objective to study the effect offoliar application of micronutrients in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cv. GUJARAT TOMATO-2at ASPEE, ARDF, Tansa farm during Rabi season 2012-2013. The experiment consisted of eighttreatments viz., T1 [RD NPK through chemical fertilizers N: P2O5 : K2 O5 kg ha-1 (75 : 37.5 : 62.5)], T2(T1+ 100 ppm B; i.e. boric acid 0.571 g l-1), T3 (T1+100 ppm Zn; i.e. zinc sulphate 0.246 g l-1), T4 (T1 +100 ppm Cu; i.e. copper sulphate 0.420 g l-1), T5 (T1+100 ppm Fe; i.e. ferrous sulphate 0.515 g l-1), T6(T1 +100 ppm Mn; i.e. manganese sulphate 0.320 g l-1), and T7 (T1 + mixture of all micronutrients) andT8 (T1 + multiplex 4 ml l-1) by mixing with simple water were imposed. The foliar application wasmade by using equipment knapsack sprayer in the evening hours. The thrice times foliar spray weremade at 10 days interval starting from 40 days after transplanting seedling. The data clearly showedthat the yield obtained with treatment T7 had significantly maximum plant height (131.73 cm), numberof branches plant-1 (5.81), fresh weight of plants (25.65 t ha-1), dry matter yield of plants (7670.03 kgha-1), maximum days to last picking (166.68), number of fruits plant-1 (34.26), fruit length (5.52 cm),fruit diameter (4.64 cm), fruit volume (67.53 cm3), single fruit weight (49.20 g), fruit weight plant-1

(1.68 kg), number of locules fruit-1 (3.03), pericarp thickness (6.23 mm), fruit yield ha-1 (46.78 t) andmarketable fruit yield ha-1 (45.62 t). This treatment had maximum net return (1, 66,757 Rs./ ha) andB:C Ratio 2.72 : 1 out all other treatments than over control.

KEY WORDS : Micronutrient, Tomato, GT-2

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Saravaiya, S.N., Wakchaure, S.S., Jadhav, P.B., Tekale, G.S., Patil, N.B. and Dekhane,S.S. (2014). Effect of foliar application of micronutrients in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cv. GUJARATTOMATO-2. Asian J. Hort., 9(2) : 297-300.

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller, 2n = 2x =24), popularly known as wolf apple, love of apple orVilayati baingan is one of the most important vegetable

crop, belongs to family Solanaceae, originated in tropicalAmerica and was introduced in India by the Portuguese. It isa leading vegetable crop grown across the length and breadthof country due to its wide adaptability of various agro-climaticconditions. It is equally liked by both poor and rich and isquite high in nutritive value.

Micronutrients are not only essential for better growth,yield and quality but also important like other major nutrientsin spite of their requirement in micro quantity. These alsohelps in uptake of major nutrients and also vital to the growth

of plants acting as catalyst in promoting various organicreaction from cell development to respiration, photosynthesis,chlorophyll formation, enzyme activity, hormones synthesisand nitrogen fixation. Considerable research work has beendone on the aspect of foliar application of micronutrient indifferent crops and the experimental results indicated notonly increase in yield up to 20 per cent but also helpful tosustain crop production. Arora et al. (1979) reported thatmicronutrients like boron, copper, molybdenum and zincthrough foliage can also improve the vegetative growth, fruitset and yield of tomato. Working with tomato, Mallick andMuthukrishnan (1980) reported that the role of micronutrientsin the “nutr ient element balance” of the plant is of

RESEARCH PAPER

THE ASIAN JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE

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DOI : 10.15740/HAS/TAJH/9.2/297-300

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Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 9(2) Dec., 2014 : 298297-300

considerable interest.

RESEARCH METHODSThe investigation was carried out at American Spring

Pressing Works, Pvt. Ltd. (ASPEE), Agricultural ResearchDevelopment Foundation (ARDF), TANSA Farm during theyear Rabi 2012-13. In all eight treatments viz., T1 (RD NPKthrough chemical fertilizers 75 : 37.5 : 62.5); T2 (T1+ 100ppm B); T3 (T1+100 ppm Zn); T4 (T1 + 100 ppm Cu); T5(T1+100 ppm Fe); T6 (T1 +100 ppm Mn); T7 (T1 + mixture ofall micronutrients) and T8 (T1 + multiplex 4 ml l-1) wereevaluated in a Randomized Block Design with fivereplications. The tomato cv. GT-2 seedlings nursery was raisedat 15 cm x 7 cm distance in a plot size 3 x 1 m andtransplanted in plot size 4.2 m x 3.6 m. All agronomicalpractices in virgue were employed from time to time. Thestatistical analysis was done by using method of Panse andSukhatne (1967).

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONThe data clearly indicated that the growth and yield of

crop obtained with treatment T7 (T1 + mixture of allmicronutrient) three times foliar spray at 10 days intervalstarting from 40 days after transplanting seedling) showedsignificantly higher plant height (131.73 cm), number ofbranches plant-1 (5.81), fresh weight of plants ha-1 (25.65 t),dry matter yield of plant ha-1 (7670.03 kg), maximumharvesting period of days to last picking (166.68), numberof fruits plant-1 (34.26), fruit length (5.52 cm) (Plate 1), fruitdiameter (4.64 cm), fruit volume (67.53 cm3), single fruitweight (49.20 g), fruit weight plant-1 (1.68 kg), pericarpthickness (6.23 mm), fruit yield ha-1 (46.78 t) and marketablefruit yield ha-1 (45.62 t), respectively in Table 1 and 2. It had

maximum net realization of Rs. 1,66,757.00 ha-1 and B:Cratio of 2.72:1 over all other treatments at the end ofexperiment (Table 3). These findings are in conformity withthe results of Bhatt et al. (2004) and Patil et al. (2008), whoobtained maximum benefit: cost ratio with foliar applicationof mixture of all micronutrients.

The T8 (T1 + (Zn 3 %, Mn 1%, B 0.5% and Fe 2%multiplex 4 ml/lit. of simple water) foliar thrice times spray at10 days interval starting from 40 days after transplantingseedling) had positive effects next to T7 consisting of thecombination of inorganic fertilizer plus mixture of allmicronutrients produced higher plant height (129.88 cm),number of branches plant-1 (5.73), fresh weight of plants ha-1

(24.60 t), dry matter yield of plant ha-1 (7627.25 kg), minimumdays to first picking of fruits (73.26), maximum harvestingperiod of days to last picking of fruit (165.44), number of fruits

S.N. SARAVAIYA, S.S. WAKCHAURE, P.B. JADHAV, G.S. TEKALE, N.B. PATIL AND S.S. DEKHANE

Fig. 1 : View of tomato fruits of different treatments

Table 1 : Effect of foliar application of micronutrients in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cv. GUJARAT TOMATO-2

Treatments Days to 50 (%) flowering

Plant height, cm

Number of branches plant-1

Fresh weight of plant, t. ha-1

Dry matter yield of plant, kg ha-1

Days to first picking of fruits

Days to last picking of fruit

Number of fruits plant-1

T1 32.12 81.69 3.36 19.14 5958.17 90.44 143.57 22.44

T2 34.67 97.74 4.63 23.09 6757.51 81.38 156.46 31.01

T3 34.10 112.44 4.11 23.28 7301.61 80.59 162.50 31.06

T4 34.09 84.32 3.56 21.82 6577.28 86.64 146.99 25.63

T5 33.77 84.68 3.55 22.06 6679.59 83.25 151.86 26.25

T6 31.88 89.50 3.67 22.56 6868.19 82.52 154.24 29.64

T7 35.67 131.73 5.81 25.65 7670.03 75.26 166.68 34.26

T8 35.22 129.88 5.73 24.60 7627.25 73.26 165.44 33.23

S.E. ± 0.57 2.92 0.30 1.28 248.18 1.92 3.29 1.44

C.D. P=0.05 1.65** 8.45** 0.87** 3.72** 718.94** 5.55** 9.52** 4.18**

C.V. (%) 3.75 6.43 15.63 12.59 8.01 5.25 4.71 11.05 ** indicates of significance of values at P=0.05, respectively

Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 9(2) Dec., 2014 : 299297-300

EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF MICRONUTRIENTS IN TOMATO

Hind Agricultural Research and Training InstituteAsian J. Hort., 9(2) Dec., 2014 : 300297-300

plant-1 (33.23), fruit length (5.26 cm), fruit diameter (4.41 cm),fruit volume (64.04 cm3), single fruit weight (43.20 g), fruitweight plant-1 (1.43 kg), pericarp thickness (6.02 mm), fruityield ha-1 (39.80 t) and marketable fruit yield ha-1 (39.5 t) (Tables1 and 2). It had maximum net realization of Rs. 1,39,293.00ha-1 and B:C ratio of 2.39:1 (Table 3). These findings are similarwith the results of Bhatt et al. (2004) Govindan (1952); Bhattet al. (2004) and Patil et al. (2008), who obtained maximumbenefit: cost ratio with foliar application of mixture of allmicronutrients.

Th is might be due to the enhancemen t inphotosynthesis, deposit ion of photo assimila tes,t r anslocat ion of carbohydrates, improvemen t inphysiological and other metabolic activity which led toan increase in various plant metabolites responsible foractively cell division and elongation results improvementin growth characters (Hatwar et al., 2003). Increased yielddue to micronutrients application may be attributed toenhanced photosynthetic activity, resulting into theincreased production and accumulation of carbohydrateand favourable effect on vegetative growth and retentionof flower and fruits which might have increased numberof fruits per plant besides improvement in the fruit size.The increase in dry matter production of fruits may beattributed to greater accumulation of photosynthates byvegetative parts and its subsequent translocation to thesink. Also role of boron which enhance the movement ofsugar complex from the leaves to the fruit and ultimatelyincreased the fruit yield is according to result given byPandita et al. (1976); Bose and Tripathi (1996); Hood et al.(1984); Kumbhar and Deshmukh (1993); Patnaik et al.(2001) and Prabha and Singaram (1996) and Singh et al.(2003).

Conclusion :The foliar spray of T7 (T1 + mixture of all micronutrients)

was found much effective over control. It can be concludedthat the growth and yield attributes of tomato cv. GT-2 showedpositive results for spraying of T7 treatment (T1 + mixture ofall micronutrients) three times foliar spray at 10 days intervalstarting from 40 days after transplanting seedling) followedby T8 (T1 + multiplex 4 ml/lit. of simple water) treatment.

Acknowledgement :The authors are grateful to Directors of ASPEE,

Agricultural Research and Development Foundation, Mumbaifor providing facilities for conducting the research work.

9th

of ExcellenceYear

S.N. SARAVAIYA, S.S. WAKCHAURE, P.B. JADHAV, G.S. TEKALE, N.B. PATIL AND S.S. DEKHANE

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