Nutritional and Morpho-physiological Responses of Tomato Plant (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) Affected by Biological and Chemical Fertilizers

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of biological and chemical fertilizers on morpho-physiological characteristics and nutrients uptake in tomato plant (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). A factorial trial arranged in a completely randomized design was carried out under greenhouse conditions. Treatments consisted of five levels of  chemical fertilizers applied as: control (F0), fertilizer traditionally used (F1), soil-test-based optimum nutrients levels (F2), commercial root stimulant (F3), optimum nutrients levels + application of N, P, Zn and Si by the rate of twofold of the optimum levels (F4) and five levels of  biological fertilizers including: control (BF0), PGPR (BF1), arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (BF2), vermicompost (BF3), and biological package (BF4).The results indicated that the interaction effect of treatments was significant only for shoot dry weight. F4-BF4 and F2-BF4 treatments increased shoot dry weight up to 122% and 121% compared to the control (F0-BF0), respectively. The application of BF4 incresed the leaf area 55% and the application of F4 increased SPAD chlorophyll index 29% as compared to the control and they were the best for increasing such properties.  Among the biological treatments, the application of BF4 increased the uptake of N, P, K and Si in the shoot by 108.4, 224.7, 115.6 and 226.3%, respectively, and among the chemical treatments, the application of F4 increased the uptake of these elements by 58.7%, 14.9% 25.1% and 158% in comparison with control, respectively. The results of this study showed that in the soils with high pH, the nutrients uptake of tomato plant can be effectively improved via integrated application of vermicompot and chemical fertilizers under both optimum and even higher levels.