Effects of Liquid Organic Fertilizers and Boron Application on Growth of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in Soilless Media

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effects of liquid organic fertilizers as well as boron (B) application on growth of Solanum Lycopersicon (tomato) in soilless culture media which was using cocopeat as growth media. There were 16 treatments with 5 replications, including Controls (unapplied and AB fertilizer), liquid organic fertilizers (fish amino acid [FAA] and shrimp extract [SE]) and B application. Each experiment was carried out for 8 weeks arranging in a factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) as an experimental design. Data were analyzed and the differences between treatments mean were compared using Tukey HSD test with significant level (P<0.05). Results showed that the treatments were significantly affected the plant height (F15,368 = 12.51, P ≤0.001) and number of leaves (F15,368 = 19.14, P ≤0.001). This study proved that the application of liquid organic fertilizers (FAA and shrimp extract) and B application can contribute positive effects on plant growth for certain parameters only. However, they can also be used as an alternative fertilizer to reduce the usage of chemical fertilizer.