Improving growth, yield and quality of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) using staking and mixed fertilization

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm and Postgraduate Laboratory of the Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from September 2019 to March 2020 to study the effects of staking and mixed fertilization for improving growth, yield and quality of cherry tomato cv. Binatomato 10. The two-factor experiment consisted of two types of staking viz. S1 = Single, S2 = Trellis type and five doses of mixed fertilizers viz. T0: Control, T1: 25% of mixed fertilizers (cowdung, mustard oil cake (MOC), urea, TSP and MoP @ 4000, 125, 100, 87.5, and 75 kg/ha, respectively), T2: 50% of mixed fertilizers (cowdung, MOC, urea, TSP and MoP @ 6000, 250, 200, 175, and 150 kg/ha, respectively), T3: 75% of mixed fertilizers (cowdung, MOC, urea, TSP and MoP @ 9000, 375, 300, 262.5, and 225 kg/ha, respectively) and T4: 100% of mixed fertilizers (cowdung, MOC, urea, TSP and MP @ 12000, 500, 400, 350, and 300 kg/ha, respectively). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Staking and mixed fertilization had significant effects on all the parameters under study. Trellis type staking along with combined application of cowdung, MOC, urea, TSP and MoP @ 9000, 375, 300, 262.5, and 225 kg/ha, respectively (S2T3) gave the highest plant height (134.93 cm), number of leaves (46.87), flowers (384.32) and fruits per plant (312.31), individual fruit weight (11.68 g), fruit length (3.68 cm) and diameter (2.67 cm), yield per hectare (64.24 t), and TSS (8.69%).