Diverse responses for some growth biostimulants on some morphological, physiological, chemical, anatomical and yield characteristics of tomato plant (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill)

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University (Assiut Branch), 71524 Assiut, Egypt

2 Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Moshtohor, Toukh, Qalyoubia, 13736, Egypt

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried at the Experimental Farm Station of The Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Qlubia governorate and Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University (Assiut Branch), Assiut governorate, Egypt, during two successive summer seasons of 2016 and 2017.The aim of this work was to study the effect of foliar application with Arginine at 25, 50 mgl-1 and Tryptophan at 50, 100 mgl-1 as well as Milagrow at 50 and 100 mgl-1 treatments comparing to the control on morphological, physiological, chemical, anatomical, flowering and yield characteristics of tomato plant. The experiment was performed as a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Different vegetative growth characteristics of plant samples were taken i.e., plant length, stem diameter, number of branches plant-1, number of leaves plant-1, stem fresh weight plant-1, leaves fresh weight plant-1, stem dry weight plant-1, leaves dry weight plant-1 and total leaf area plant-1. Photosynthetic pigments in the leaves i.e., Chlorophyll A, B, A+B and Carotenoids mg g-1 F.Wt., phytohormones i.e., Gibberellins, Auxins, Cytokinins and total promoters as well as Salicylic acid and Abscisic acid content. Anatomical characteristics of tomato plant leaf i.e., thickness of upper epidermis tissue, lower epidermis, palisade tissue, spongy tissue, blade, phloem tissue, xylem tissue, No. of xylem rows, widest of M. xylem vessel, length of vascular bundle, width of vascular bundle and thickness of leaf midrib. Anatomical stem characteristics i.e., thickness of epidermis tissue, collenchyma layers, parenchyma layers, phloem tissue, cambial tissue, xylem tissue, No. of xylem rows vascular cylinder-1, No. of xylem vessels row-1, widest of M. xylem vessel, thickness of parenchymamatous pith and stem diameter. From these results we can conclude that, the beast treatment was Milagrow at 50 mgl-1 flowed by Arginine at 50 mgl-1 comparing with the control and other applied biostimulant treatments  during the both seasons. On the other side, the treatment with Tryptophan, recorded low values, especially at 50 mgl-1 comparing with the other biostimulants. At the same time Milagro at 50 mgl-1 which recorded the highest values for early yield (g) plant-1 (731.62), total fruits No. plant-1 (29.74), fruit setting % (37.19), total yield plant-1 (1.94 kg), fruit fresh weight fruit-1 (67.38 g) and fruit dry weight fruit-1 (3.14g). The highest values for nitrogen, crude protein, total carbohydrates, total soluble solids and Vitamin C mg100-1 cm3 juice was recorded with Milagrow at 50 mgl-1. On the contrast, the same treatment was recorded low values for phosphorus, potassium and total acidity comparing with the other treatments during both seasons. The negative correlation was found among nitrogen, crude protein, total carbohydrates, total soluble solid and vitamin  C mg 100-1 cm3 juice with phosphorus, potassium and total acidity. From these results can conclude that, the beast treatment was Milagrow at 50 mgl-1 flowed by Arginine at 50 mgl-1 comparing with the control during the both seasons. On the other side, the treatment with Tryptophan, recorded low values, especially at 50 mgl-1 comparing with the other applied biostimulants. Finally, the leaf and stem anatomical characters indicated  that Milagrow was the beast  treatment for enhancement the diameter of xylem vessel in the stem and No. of xylem rows in the leaf and stem especially at 50 mgl-1 as well as increasing the thickness of leaf  lamina  and  midrib  especially at 100  mgl-1,  subsequently increasing the mineral  elements transport and photosynthetic rate. Moreover, increasing yield and may be caused the tolerance to an adverse conditions especially high temperature for tomato genotypes during summer season.

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