1Present Address: Soil and Water Management Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, KattuthottamThanjavur-613 501, Tamil Nadu, India
2Agricultural Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Bhavanisagar638 451, Erode, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDistrict
3Horticultural College and Research Institute,Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India,
Department of Vegetable Crops Horticultural, College and Research Institute Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
Online published on 19 March, 2018.
In fertigation, application of fertilizers through drip irrigation has gained popularity in developed countries and it could help in long way for efficient and uniform application of both water and fertilizers with minimum labour input. Drip irrigation and fertigation resulted in great success by increasing the growth characters of horticultural crops. With this in view, the present investigation was designed to study the effect of fertigation on plant morphological changes of tomato cultivars. The experiment was designed with three methods of irrigation and fertilization treatments (F1-Conventional systems of irrigation and fertilization, F2-Drip irrigation with conventional system of fertilization and F3-Drip fertigation) with three popular cultivars'of tomato (V1-PKM-1 (Determinate), V2-COTH-2 (Semi-determinate) and V3-US-618 (Indeterminate) in spilt plot design. The results revealed that cultivar and systems of irrigation and fertilization significantly influenced the growth characters of tomato. The growth of tomato as influenced by various methods of irrigation and fertilization has been elucidated through plant height, number of laterals, root length, stem girth, specific leaf weight, leaf dry weight and dry matter production.
Fertigation, Plant morphological changes, Tomato
