Response of tomato to iron nutrition in saline soil

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Theerthampalayam village, Cuddalore distict on saline soil to study the Response of tomato to iron nutrition in saline soil. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design and replicated three times. The treatments were T1- RDF + Water spray (Control), T2- RDF + Soil application FeSO4 10 kg ha-1,T3- RDF+ Soil application FeSO4 20 kg ha-1, T4- RDF + Soil application FeSO4 30 kg ha-1, T5- RDF +Foliar spray 0.25 % (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT),T6- RDF + Foliar pray 0.50 % (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT), T7- RDF +Foliar spray 1.0 % (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT),T8- T2 + Foliar spray 0.25% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT), T9- T3+ Foliar spray 0.25% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT) T10- T4 + Foliar spray 0.25% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT) T11- T2 + Foliar spray 0.50 % (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT), T12- T3 + Foliar spray 0.50% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT), T13-T4 + Foliar spray 0.50 % (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT) T14- T2 + Foliar spray 1.0% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT), T15 – T3 + Foliar spray 1.0% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT) and T16- T4 + Foliar spray 1.0% (FeSO4 45 & 60 DAT).The results revealed that application of either soil or foliar or combined application of iron significantly influenced the tomato yield, iron uptake and iron use efficiency over control. The tomato yield was higher in combined application of soil and foliar iron compared to their individual applications. The highest tomato yield (365.50 q ha-1 ) and iron uptake (fruit 1112.65 and stover 897.15 g ha-1 ) was noticed T12 Combined application of soil and foliar iron recorded higher agronomic efficiency and apparent iron recovery compared to their individual applications which explained the highest yield in the best treatment.