The Impacts of different Substrates on the Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Greenhouse- Grown Cherry Tomato

In Egypt, a considerable amount of crop residues and industrial products, including peanut shells (PN), rice hulls (RH) and sawdust (SD) are available without being used as alternative substrates to the costly, imported media viz, peat moss (P) and coconut coir (Coc) in soilless culture. With the high value and increasing demand of cherry tomato fruits for export, this study was conducted to examine the growth and yield potential of cherry tomato plants in eight different substrate mixtures: P+RH, P+SD, P+ Vermiculite (V), Coc+RH, Coc+V, PN+RH, PN+V, PN+Coc and a control (sand+compost). Plants were grown in 4L pots from Oct, 2016 to May, 2017 in unheated greenhouse, fertigated via spaghetti tubes, trellised and pruned to one main stem. Results showed that plants on Coc+V or P+V had the highest stem length, while those on Coc+RH and PN+Coc had the highest leaf area. Plants on PN+Coc had also the highest shoot/ root ratio. Fruit yield, number and mean fruit weight were the highest on PN+V or PN+Coc. Fruit harvested from plants on RH-amended media had the highest TSS and EC, while fruit vitamin C content was not affected by medium type. The results suggest that PN and RH mixed with Coc are suitable substrates for soilless culture of cherry tomato