Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a diffused worldwide vegetable. Great amounts of fertilizers are often applied for increasing yield and quality, without considering the negative effect on the environment. A possible perspective for reducing this risk is to raise the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) through the use of plant biostimulants, which also improve yield and quality con-comitantly. The aim of the current study was to verify the potential beneficial effect of three vegetal-based biostimulants on agronom-ical, qualitative and nitrogen use efficiency of a processing tomato crop. The experiment provided three biostimulants (an extract of brown seaweed [SwE], a legume-derived protein hydrolysate [LDPH] and a tropical plant extract). The following assessments were carried out: marketable and unmarketable yields, mean fruits weight, firmness, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), colour parameters (a/b), hydrophilic antioxidant activity (HAA), lipophilic antioxidant activity (LAA), total ascorbic acid content (AsA), total phenols, nitrate and total nitrogen content, nitrogen use effi- ciency, N-uptake efficiency, and N-utilization. The foliar application of biostimulants especially protein hydrolysates and seaweed extract significantly affected the marketable yield with an average increase of 18.3% over the control and 41.3% average decrease in unmarketable yield. The N-use and N-uptake efficiency followed a similar trend, with biostimulants boosting it higher than control, +18.4% and +59.3%, respectively; the nitrogen content was also higher in fruits of sprayed plants: +21.3% over control. This find-ing also reflects on higher dry matter accumulation and firmness in fruits of treated plants (+10.9% and +14.1% over control, respectively). The biostimulants application, in particular SwE and LDPH, also boosted TSS (+12.8%), the a/b colour ratio (+7.5%), HAA and AsA (9.8% and 114.6%, respectively). Therefore, the legume-derived protein hydrolysates and extract of brown seaweed Ecklonia maxima seem a good sustainable approach to improve yield and quality of tomato for canning industries.

Foliar application of plant-based biostimulants improve yield and upgrade qualitative characteristics of processing tomato / Cozzolino, E.; Di Mola, I.; Ottaiano, L.; El Nakhel, C.; Rouphael, Y.; Mori, M.. - In: ITALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY. - ISSN 1125-4718. - 16:2(2021). [10.4081/ija.2021.1825]

Foliar application of plant-based biostimulants improve yield and upgrade qualitative characteristics of processing tomato

Di Mola I.
;
Ottaiano L.;El Nakhel C.;Rouphael Y.;Mori M.
2021

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a diffused worldwide vegetable. Great amounts of fertilizers are often applied for increasing yield and quality, without considering the negative effect on the environment. A possible perspective for reducing this risk is to raise the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) through the use of plant biostimulants, which also improve yield and quality con-comitantly. The aim of the current study was to verify the potential beneficial effect of three vegetal-based biostimulants on agronom-ical, qualitative and nitrogen use efficiency of a processing tomato crop. The experiment provided three biostimulants (an extract of brown seaweed [SwE], a legume-derived protein hydrolysate [LDPH] and a tropical plant extract). The following assessments were carried out: marketable and unmarketable yields, mean fruits weight, firmness, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), colour parameters (a/b), hydrophilic antioxidant activity (HAA), lipophilic antioxidant activity (LAA), total ascorbic acid content (AsA), total phenols, nitrate and total nitrogen content, nitrogen use effi- ciency, N-uptake efficiency, and N-utilization. The foliar application of biostimulants especially protein hydrolysates and seaweed extract significantly affected the marketable yield with an average increase of 18.3% over the control and 41.3% average decrease in unmarketable yield. The N-use and N-uptake efficiency followed a similar trend, with biostimulants boosting it higher than control, +18.4% and +59.3%, respectively; the nitrogen content was also higher in fruits of sprayed plants: +21.3% over control. This find-ing also reflects on higher dry matter accumulation and firmness in fruits of treated plants (+10.9% and +14.1% over control, respectively). The biostimulants application, in particular SwE and LDPH, also boosted TSS (+12.8%), the a/b colour ratio (+7.5%), HAA and AsA (9.8% and 114.6%, respectively). Therefore, the legume-derived protein hydrolysates and extract of brown seaweed Ecklonia maxima seem a good sustainable approach to improve yield and quality of tomato for canning industries.
2021
Foliar application of plant-based biostimulants improve yield and upgrade qualitative characteristics of processing tomato / Cozzolino, E.; Di Mola, I.; Ottaiano, L.; El Nakhel, C.; Rouphael, Y.; Mori, M.. - In: ITALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY. - ISSN 1125-4718. - 16:2(2021). [10.4081/ija.2021.1825]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/854575
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