Yield, Quality and Nutrient Content of Tomato in Response to Soil Drenching of Silicic Acid

Abstract

Although the role of silicon (Si) in enhancing crop performance has been proven in many field crops including rice, wheat, sugarcane and soybean, its influence on Si non-accumulator crops like tomato is very much limited. In order to evaluate the effect of silicic acid on tomato, a field experiment was conducted during summer 2018. The experiment consisted of with and without silicic acid treatments to test the efficacy of silicic acid soil drenching on yield, quality and nutrient content of tomato. The results revealed that soil drenching of silicic acid @ 4 ml L−1 at 15, 30 and 45 days after planting significantly increased the yield attributes, viz. number of fruits per plant (41.42 ± 2.77), fruit yield per plant (2.34 ± 0.05 kg) and fruit yield per hectare (86.66 ± 1.74 t) over control. Silicic acid soil drenching significantly enhanced the quality parameters in tomato. The total soluble solids (TSS) and lycopene content of tomato significantly improved with drenching of silicic acid @ 4 ml L−1 over control from 3.55 ± 0.23 to 4.23 ± 0.21 Brix and 4.65 ± 0.66 to 6.34 ± 0.22 mg 100 g−1 fruit, respectively, but significantly decreased the titratable acidity (0.45 ± 0.08 per cent) of tomato over control (0.63 ± 0.03 per cent) and enhanced major and micronutrients contents apart from Si. Thus, soil drenching of silicic acid @ 4 ml L−1 has found to be a novel way to enhance yield, quality and nutrient content of tomato.