Effect of Organic Manures and Inorganic Fertilizers on Fruit Yield of Tomato

Abstract

Treatments with organic manure, inorganic fertilizers and their combinations showed significant differences for fruit yield and yield attributing traits. Among the treatments, application of 20 t FYM/ha along with full dose of recommended NPK i.e. 150:60:60 kg NPK / ha recorded the highest fruit yield of 428.32 and 530.55 q/ha during the year 2002 and 2003, respectively with grand mean fruit yield of 479.43 q/ha. This treatment was on par with 40 tonnes FYM + 1/₂ dose of recommended NPK during 2002 and 2003, which recorded mean fruit yield of 456.17 q/ ha. Both these treatments were significantly superior to recommended inorganic NPK fertilizer treatment (435.57 q/ha) as well as to application of different doses of organic manure alone such as FYM and green manure, indicating that integration of both organic manures and inorganic fertilizers are important for obtaining higher fruit yield in tomato. Addition of organic manure besides having favourable effect on crop yield was also found to be better in maintaining soil health and growth of succeeding crop.