HIGHLIGHTS
Combining different sources of organic fertilizers is a viable strategy to balance the nutritional demand for tomato.
Tomato can be produced without soluble mineral fertilizers.
The effect of organic fertilization depends on the cultivar.
Key words:
Lycopersicon esculentum; organic fertilization; wastes
ABSTRACT
The objective of the study was to evaluate the vegetative and productive growth of two varieties of tomato plants (‘Compack’ and ‘Gaucho’) with organic fertilization of two sources: poultry litter (PL) and swine wastewater (SWW), with and without mineral supplementation. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with seven treatments and four replicates for ‘Compack’ and five repetitions for ‘Gaucho’ . The applied treatments were: the control, 100% mineral fertilization, 100% organic poultry litter - PL, 100% organic swine wastewater (SWW), 50% PL and mineral supplementation, and 50% PL complemented with SWW. At 30 and 90 days after transplanting measurements of height, leaflets width and stem diameter were recorded. At harvest, measurements of diameter, length, mass, soluble solids and titratable acidity of fruits were carried out. Also, determination of N, P and K concentrations on foliar tissues were carried out. The vegetative growth of the two tomato cultivars was lower in the control. The highest yield of ‘Compack’ tomatoes was observed with mineral fertilization, PL and SWW with mineral supplementation and PL + SWW, whereas for Gaucho tomato cultivar, the highest yield was obtained with PL + SWW fertilization.
Key words:
Lycopersicon esculentum; organic fertilization; wastes