Screening Of Suitable Substrates Formulation For Cherry Tomato Cultivation

Cherry tomato?Solanum lycopersicum L.?is widely favored due to its soft,juicy,sweet and sour taste,and its cultivation area has been expanding over the years in China.Therefore,how to improve quality and yield of cherry tomato by substrate cultivation has become a focus research.Peat is a common substrate for soilless cultivation,as a non-renewable resource,continuous exploiting peat caused not only the destruction of the ecological environment,but also with the reduction of peat,the price of it is rising and the cost of substrate production is increasing.To provide theoretical and technical support for screening of cultivation substrate and reducing the amount of peat,the properties of different substrates and effects of different substrates on quality and yield of cherry tomatoes were studied through preliminary screening and further validation experiments using the commercial substrate of‘Luqing'?peat volume was 30%?as control?CK?and‘Bijiao'cherry tomatoes as materials.The main findings are as follows:1.The properties of substrates were bulk density 0.23 g·cm^-30.38 g·cm^-3,the total porosity 67.1%⁷5.8%,the electrical conductance 1.70 mS·cm^-11.92 mS·cm^-1,pH6.07⁶.74 before planting,and bulk density 0.25 g·cm^-30.40 g·cm^-3,total porosity64.2%⁶8.7%,electrical conductance 1.10 mS·cm^-11.27 mS·cm^-1,pH 6.29⁶.90 after harvesting,respectively.Compared to before planting,the bulk density increased,however total porosity,EC,the content of available nitrogen,available phosphorus and available potassium decreased,the change of pH was not significant after harvesting.Through comprehensive analysis,the substrates formulations with good physical and chemical properties were peat:rice husk fermentation material:coconut:vermiculite:mixture of coconut and wood=2:3:2:2:1?T2?and peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:perlite=1:3:3:2:1?T4?.2.Compared with commercial substrate of‘Luqing',the yield increased significantly by21.8%under T2,and by 5.8%under T4 treatment.But under peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:perlite=0:3:3:3:1?T5?treatment,the yield was significant lower than that under CK,decreased by 25.5%.3.With the extension of growth period,there was a decrease treand in EC,the content of available nitrogen,available phosphorus and available potassium,and the pH was stable under three treatments.The activities of catalase and alkaline phosphatase under peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:mixture of coconut and wood=2:3:2:2:1?R1?was higher significantly than that under other treatments.Under all treatments,the activities of sucrase and urease under peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:perlite=1:3:3:2:1?R2?were higher,and there was no significant difference between them.The number of fungi was higher under CK treatment,and the number of actinomycetes and bacteria were higher under R1 treatment.4.Compared with the commercial substrate of‘Luqing',stem diameter,root and shoot DW,total root length,root surface area and root volume,Pn,the content of chlorophyll a,chlorophyll b,chlorophyll?a+b?,chlorophyll?a/b?carotenoids,and NPQ in leaves of the cherry tomato were all higher under R1 treatment.The plant height,transpiration rate and?PSII in leaves under R2 treatment were higher than those under other treatments.The growth index was analyzed by gray correlation showed that peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:mixture of coconut and wood=2:3:2:2:1 was more conducive to tomatoes growth and development.5.Compared with the commercial substrate of‘Luqing',the content of soluble sugar,Vc,lycopene and soluble protein of cherry tomato under R1 treatment were higher than those under other treatments.The content of organic acid under R2 treatment was the highest.Yield under R1 treatment was 14.6%higher than that under CK treatment and the profit was best,too,R2 treatment followed.Under the conditions of this experiment,peat:rice husk fermented material:coconut:vermiculite:mixture of coconut and wood=2:3:2:2:1 was more conducive to the growth and development of cherry tomatoes and could help achieve high yield and quality.And the proportion of peat volume was 10%lower than that of the commercial substrate of ‘Luqing'.