Effect of Application of Boron on Growth, Quality and Fruit Yield of Pkm 1 Tomato

The field experiment was conducted during 2006 at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai to investigate the effect of application of boron on growth, quality and fruit yield of PKM 1 tomato. The biometric characters such as plant height and number branches were significantly influenced by soil and foliar application of boron. It was observed that among the various levels of soil application of boron, borax @ 20 kg ha⁻¹ recorded increase in height and number of branches whereas among the various levels of foliar application of boron, 0.25 per cent borax spray produced taller plants with more no. of branches. The quality parameters of PKM 1 tomato fruit such as lycopene, ascorbic acid, crude protein and total soluble sugars were significantly increased due to the soil application of borax @ 20 kg ha⁻¹ recording a value of 3.99 mg 100g⁻¹, 23.0 mg 100g⁻¹, 10.13 per cent and 9.20° brix respectively. The crude fibre and titratable acidity were found to be highest in control that received the recommended dose of NPK alone, whereas the lowest value was recorded in soil application of borax @ 20 kg ha⁻¹. The results also revealed that the highest fruit yield of 33 tonnes per hectare was recorded in treatment that received borax @ 20 kg ha⁻¹ recording 33.6 per cent increase over control and was found to be significantly superior to rest of the treatments. The quadratic response curve fitted to the yield data of PKM 1 tomato (y = 23503.57 + 1093.79x − 29.79×2) and was found to be highly significant with an r value of 0.928**. The physical and economic optimum of borax for maximum yield of tomato was found to be 18.36 kg ha⁻¹ and 18.29 kg ha⁻¹ respectively at a price level of Rs.10 per kg of tomato and Rs.40 per kg of borax.