S13 - Session O3 - Yield, quality and antioxidants of greenhouse grown tomato `miniplum´ as affected by biostimulant treatment duration in southern Italy

Authors: Alessio Tallarita *, Lorenzo Vecchietti, Eugenio Cozzolino, Agnieszka Sekara, Massimo Mirabella, Antonio Cuciniello, Vincenzo Cenvinzo, Gianluca Caruso

Biostimulants allow to improve yield and quality performances of crop systems. Research was carried out in greenhouse to assess the effects of the biostimulant Activeg treatment duration (3, 6 or 9 weekly applications) in addition to an untreated control, on yield, quality and antioxidant activity of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) "miniplum" Proxy F 1 in spring-summer; a randomized complete block design was used with three replicates. Flowering began on 12 July in biostimulant treated plants, and two days later in the untreated control. Tomato fruit yield and its components rose with the increase of biostimulant treatment number. Fruit quality indicators, i.e., dry residue and soluble solids, were significantly affected by the lengthening of biostimulant application, Similar trend was shown by antioxidant content in tomato fruits, such as licopene, polyphenols and ascorbic acid, whereas only the fruit colorimetric parameters A* and B* were significantly affected by biostimulant treatment. From the present research it arose that biostimulating tomato plants with a formulate based on Fabaceae plant enzymatic extracts resulted in yield and quality enhancement of 'miniplum' fruits harvested in spring-summer, with the best outcome recorded under 9 applications.