Effect Of Different Fertilization Levels On Yield And Quality Of Sand-Cultured Tomato

Tomato is rich in phytonutrients and is one of the most widely planted fruits and vegetables in China’s facility agriculture,but excessive fertilization is common in China.To improve agricultural production efficiency as well as to reduce the environmental impact,in this experiment,irrigation and fertilization were applied to tomato with yellow sand substrate by drip irrigation and water-fertilizer integration technology,mainly to study the effects of four fertilization levels(0.55 m L/plant,1.10 m L/plant,2.20 m L/plant,and 4.40m L/plant)on’Shijia 1867’and’NS-8994’(hereafter referred to as’1867’tomato and’8994’tomato)on the yield and quality of two different varieties of tomatoes.The results of the experiment were as follows:(1)Effects of different fertilization levels on the growth and yield of sand-cultured tomatoesDifferent fertilization levels had significant effects(P<0.05)on plant height,number of leaves per plant,number of flowers per plant,number of fruit set per plant,content of chlorophyll,total nitrogen content of leaves,yield,and average fruit weight per plant of sand-cultured tomatoes.At the fertilization level of 4.40m L/plant,the densest leaves,plant height,number of leaves per plant,number of flowers per plant,number of fruits per plant,content of chlorophyll a,and carotenoid content of sand-cultured tomatoes could reach the maximum.Yield and fruit weight per plant were highest at the fertilization level of 2.20 m L/plant,’8994’tomatoes could yield 128.77 t/hm~2 and 139.22 g per fruit weight,respectively,and’1867’tomatoes could yield 103.82 t/hm~2 and 102.09 g per fruit weight,respectively.The overall growth and yield of’8994’tomato was better than’1867’tomato,and’1867’tomato only had higher content of total nitrogen in leaves than’8994’tomato.8994’tomatoes had higher content of total nitrogen in leaves than’8994’tomatoes.(2)Effect of different fertilization levels on the quality of sand-cultured tomatoesThere was no significant difference between fertilization levels on the total sugar and lycopene contents of sand-cultured tomatoes,but the effects on vitamin C,soluble solids,total acid and sugar-acid ratio were significant(P<0.05).As the fertilization level increased,the content of soluble solids in sand-cultured tomatoes decreased,the content of total acid showed a trend of decreasing and then increasing,and the sugar-acid ratio showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing.The content of vitamin C,content of total sugar and content of lycopene were higher in’8994’tomato at low fertilization levels,while the content of vitamin C,content of total sugar and content of lycopene were higher in’1867’tomato at high fertilization levels.The comprehensive evaluation of the affiliation function showed that’8994’tomato had the best nutritional flavor at 0.55 m L/plant fertilization level and the worst at 4.40 m L/plant fertilization level;’1867’tomato had the best nutritional flavor at 2.20 m L/plant fertilization level and the worst at 0.55 m L/plant fertilization level.’1867’tomato had the best nutritional flavor at 2.20 m L/plant fertilization level and the worst at 0.55 m L/plant fertilization level.(3)Analysis of the economic benefits of sand-cultured tomatoes at different fertilization levelsWith the increase of fertilization,the fertilizer efficiency ratio of sand-cultured tomato gradually decreased and the economic efficiency gradually increased,with significant differences(P<0.05)among the small areas,and the economic efficiency decreased when the fertilization level reached 4.40 m L/plant.The economic efficiency of’8994’and’1867’tomatoes could reach 24.50 million Yuan/hm~2 and 17.02 million Yuan/hm~2,respectively.In summary,among the four fertilization levels in this experiment,if only the nutritional quality is considered,the fertilization level of 0.55 m L/plant should be selected for’8994’tomato and 2.20 m L/plant for’1867’tomato.The fertilization level of 2.20 m L/plant for sand-cultured tomato is the highest.Therefore,in agricultural life,in order to obtain high output and high income of sand cultivated tomatoes at a lower cost,the fertilization level of 2.20 m L/plant should be selected,and the variety of’NS-8994’tomatoes should be preferred.