Growth and quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) Cv. ‘Arka Vikas’ as influenced by biofertilizers and organic manures

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2015 at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Udai Pratap College, Varanasi. The experiment consisted 8 treatment combinations viz. T1 - FYM(100% @ 12 t/ha), T2 -vermicompost (100% @ 6 t/ha), T3 - FYM (50% @ 6 t/ha) + vermicompost (50% @ 3 t/ha), T4 -RDF (100% @ 180 kg N, 150 kg P2O5, 120 kg K2O /ha), T5 -Biofertilizers (P-solubilizing bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha + FYM 100%), T6 - Biofertilizers (P-solubilizing bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha) + vermicompost 100%, T7 - Biofertilizers (P-solubilising bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha) + FYM 50% + vermicompost 50%, T8 - Biofertilizers (P-solubilizing bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha) + RDF 100%, which was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with three replications and variety ‘Arka Vikas’. The result revealed that the maximum leaf area index, internode length and internodes/plant were recorded with the treatment T8 - Biofertilizers (P-solubilizing bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha) + RDF 100%. The maximum fruit length, fruit diameter, average weight of fruit and fruit yield/plant were also found with the treatment T8 - Biofertilizers (P-solubilizing bacteria @ 2.5 kg/ha and Azospirillum @ 2.5 kg/ha) + RDF 100%.