Assessing the Effect of Bio Stimulant on Growth, Yield and Quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Abstract

The field experiment was carried out at Agriculture Research Station, Dr. P.D.K.V., Achalpur Dist. Amravati, Maharashtra, India during the Rabi season (September, 2024 to Feburary, 2025) to study the effects of different doses of biostimulant (Max-Size) on growth, yield and quality of tomato. The treatments were T1 (Control or no spraying of Max-Size and no university recommended fertilizer dose), T2 (Max-Size – 2.5 ml liter-1 of water and university fertilizer dose), T3 (Max-Size - 5.0 ml liter-1 of water and university fertilizer dose), T4 (Max-Size -7.5 ml liter-1 of water and university fertilizer dose) and T5 (Only 300:150:150 NPK kg ha -1). Analysis of variance clearly revealed the significant effects of biostimulant with different treatments in respect to growth, yield and quality parameters of tomato. The  treatment T4 (Max-Size– 7.5 ml liter-1 of water) showed the highest plant height (93.40 cm), stem girth (2.50 cm), less days to flower (22.00), less days to fruit (31.20), no. of fruits plant-1(83.00), fruit length (5.20 cm), fruit diameter (6.70 cm), fruit weight (88.20 g), shelf life (16.40 days), yield plant-1 (1.45 kg) and yield q ha-1 (536.50 q ha-1) followed by T3  (Max-Size - 5 ml liter-1 of water) which were at par except shelf life of tomato. Therefore, considering low dose of application, treatment T3 (Max-Size - 5.0 ml liter-1 of water) found best.