Assessment of a bone glue-based foliar fertilizer on tomato quality production

Abstract

ABSTRACTTomatoes are consumed and cultivated all over the world for not only their pleasant taste but also their curative properties. Therefore, the challenge for growers is to obtain high-quality crop productions by developing new varieties of tomatoes or new ecofriendly fertilizers. This study was to test a bone glue-based foliar fertilizer on the tomato crop. The experiment was organized in a vegetation house under an original treatment scheme. Four types of foliar fertilizers were tested: macroelements, microelements and glue; macroelements and glue; microeleements and glue; and macroelements and microelements without glue. The fertilizers were applied as diluted solutions (0.5% and 1%) across three treatments applied on nine variants. The treatments with bone glue-based foliar fertilizer led to a high-quality production of healthy tomatoes, a good absorption of nutrients together with a reduced nitrites level in tomatoes and an increase of agricultural productivity. The applied foliar fertilizers tested on the hybrid tomatoes used in the experiment had a significant positive influence on vegetative growth. The nitrate concentration in the fruit did not exceed the maximum accepted level. The agronomic analysis of the mineral composition of the fruit revealed that foliar fertilizers with glue significantly influenced nutrient assimilation during the treatments. The level of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) recovery following the application of bone glue foliar fertilizers was higher as compared to the control and the variant without bone glue. Biometric measurements had shown significant differences favorable to tomatoes treated with this bone glue foliar fertilizer.