Fruit Quality of Tomato (Lycopersion esculentum Mill) Applied with Combined Wild Peanut (Arachis pintoi) Extract and Inorganic Fertilizer Grown Under Two Cultivation Systems

Abstract

The study looked into the efficacy of Arachis pintoi extract as a supplement to organic foliar fertilizer combined with inorganic fertilizer on the fruit quality of tomato. Specifically, the study evaluated the sensory qualities of tomato, as affected by the application of different combinations of organic and inorganic fertilizers. To achieve these objectives, two experiments were done simultaneously, in randomized complete block design (RCBD), under open field condition and protected cultivation, with three replications and with 10 sample plants per treatment. The plants applied with foliar organic fertilizer Arachis pintoi performed better in terms of fruit quality, length of shelf life, and fruit physico-chemical characteristics than other treatments, but they were found to be with lower lycopene content. The results also suggest that the type of cultivation has contributed to the fruit quality of tomato plants applied with different fertilizer treatments. Generally, those tomato plants under protected cultivation had longer number of days before reaching 50% of fruit deterioration than those tomato plants in the open field.