Optimizing Yield and Nutrients Content in Tomato by Vermicompost Application under Greenhouse Conditions

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 < 0.05) effect on the vegetative growth parameters (shoot length, root length, dry shoot weight and dry root weight), yield parameters (number of fruits per treatment and total yield) recorded at physiological maturity. Tomato fruit yield was the maximum (4.383 t∙ha−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.