Effect of silicon on tomato production in semi-controlled conditions in the Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

Silicon has been used in crop management programs, under the premise that it participates in the hardening of plant cell walls. In this sense, this research has been implemented in order to know how much silicon influences the quality of tomato fruit, given that this element theoretically fulfills metabolic and structural functions in the physiology of plants, for which, in this study, the effect of various doses of silicon on tomato yield was evaluated, using silicon dioxide as a source. The trial was established under a completely randomized design, with four treatments or doses of Silicon (0, 20, 40 and 60 g/plants as SiO2). The silicon was added 20 days before sowing, the crop management was done with cultural practices. Performance components were evaluated. It was found that the silicon fertilization did not influence the yield components, on the contrary, it hints that the applied silicon doses can affect the decrease of the yields of this crop in acid soil conditions.