Nutrition status of greenhouse tomato grown in inert media. Part II. Microelements

Abstract

The effect of inert media and fertilization levels on nutrition status of green house tomato cv. ‘Maeva F1 ’ was investigated. Mean microelement content was: 118.5 mg Fe, 51.7 mg Zn, 269.0 mg Mn and 11.43 mg Cu kg -1 of dry mass of the index parts of the tomato (9–10 leaf form the top). No significant effect of rockwool, expanded clay and polyurethane foam on microelement contents was found in the index parts of the greenhouse tomato, except for zinc whose content was significantly higher in the leaves of the plants grown in rockwool and polyurethane foam than in expanded clay. Fertilization levels did not affect significantly the content of iron, manganese and copper in the index parts, except for zinc whose content lowered at higher fertilization level. High tolerance of the tomato plants to zinc and manganese content in feeding solutions was indicated. No phytotoxicity of zinc nor manganese was found at the content of 2.01 mg Zn and 1.78 mg Mn dm -3 of water or feeding solution.

Keywords

• inert media
• soilless culture
• fertigation
• tomato