ASSESSMENT OF GROWTH, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF CHERRY TOMATO (JHUMKA) AT VARIOUS MATURITY STAGES IN RESPONSE TO APPLICATION OF HUMIC ACID

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October 2019 to April 2020 to find out the response of humic acid on growth, yield and nutritional quality of tomato fruit at different maturity stages. Four different doses of humic acid viz., H 0 = 0 ppm (control), H 1 = 25 ppm, H 2

= 50 ppm, H 3 = 75 ppm and four maturity stages viz, MS 1 =green mature, MS 2 =breakers stage, MS 3 = pink stage MS4= red stage were used to conducting this experiment. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design having two factors.The effect of humic acid on maturity stages showed significant variations with most of the parameters studied. The maximum number of flowers per plant (305.78), number of fruit per plant (194.94), yield of fruits per plant (1.6 kg) were found at 75 ppm humic acid treatment while the lowest result found in control. The highest total soluable solid (5.86 %), pH (4.01) and B-carotine content (27.58 mg/100g) in fruit were found in 75 ppm humic acid with red stage. The highest yield of fruits per hectare (68.99 tones) was obtained from 75 ppm humic acid was sprayed. So, the application of 75 ppm humic acid and red stage would be the best option to maintain better growth, yield and to have better quality tomato.