GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF CHERRY TOMATO CULTIVARS CULTIVATED IN ORGANIC SUBSTRATES

Abstract

The presente work has as objective the evaluation of the influence of different organic substrates on the growth, productivity and classification of cherry tomato fruits of the Cascade and Samambaia cultivars under protected environment. The outline of the experiment was completely randomized, with six treatments and four replications. The treatments consisted of six substrates resulting from the combination of soil (CS), bovine manure (BM), rice husk (RH) and rice hull ash (RA), in the proportions: 70% SC + 10% BM + 10% RH + 10% RA (S1); 60% SC + 20% BM + 10% RH + 10% RA (S2); 50% SC + 30% BM + 10% RH + 10% RA (S3); 60% SC + 30% BM + 10% RH (S4); 70% SC + 20% BM + 10% RH (S5); and 100% SC (S6). The evaluations consisted of analyzing the length of the aerial part, number of leaves, number and mass of fresh fruit, vertical and horizontal fruit diameter, productivity estimation and its classification. The substrate composed of soil was not shown to be efficient, presenting the lowest values for all variables. For the Cascade cultivar, the substrates S1, S2 and S5 have proved to be favorable to the agronomic parameters of the cherry tomato, allowing a greater number of marketable fruits. For the cultivar Samambaia new studies need to be carried out with different sources and proportions in order to obtain the most suitable substrate for cultivation. Therefore, for the production of cherry tomatoes of the cultivar Cascade, the substrates composed of residues obtained from the processing of rice and bovine manure, were proven as alternative sources in the tomato crop.