Biofertilizer and lighting as factors affecting tomato growth, development and biochemical composition

Abstract

A comprehensive study of growth and biochemical composition of the Blagodatny variety tomato plants grown with the use of bacterial spores Bacillus cereus strain 96 under continuous LED lighting based on full spectrum photons in the proportion B: G: R: FR ~ 17: 23: 43: 17 was conducted. Plants grown with high-pressure sodium lamps (HPS) without bacterial culture action were used as controls. A number of parameters reflecting plant growth and quality of tomato fruits were studied - the content of photosynthetic pigments, dry matter and organic acids. It was shown that during the growing season, tomato plants grown under LED illumination had a longer shoot length compared to the plants in the sodium variant. The action of the bacteria manifested itself during fruit ripening with significant differences under both sodium and LED lighting. The effect of dry matter under the influence of bacteria on the plants grown with sodium lighting did not differ from the control variant. The observed differences became more pronounced and reliably significant in the plants under LED lighting. Application of B. cereus bacterial culture increased the concentration of chlorophylls a, b and carotenoids compared to the control. When evaluating the effect of different types of lighting and the use of B. cereus bacteria on the accumulation of organic acids in fruits, it was found that LED lighting had a better effect on the synthesis of organic acids. Tomato plants treated with B. cereus were distinguished by the formation of fruits with a high content of succinic, malic and citric acids with a sodium type of lighting. When analyzing the fruits of tomato plants grown under LED lighting, a change in the accumulation of only succinic acid was noted. The use of different lighting sources and biofertilizers caused changes in the development of tomato plants under climate chamber conditions.