Evaluación del comportamiento agronómico del cultivo de tomate riñón (Solanum lycopersicum) con aplicación de dióxido de silicio (SIO2)

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable crop due to it is highly demanded and produced on all continents, so it is necessary to carry out studies on strategies to increase crop yield. Although silicon is not an essential element, it has been shown that can cause beneficial effects on growth, tolerance to heavy metal toxicity, resistance to abiotic stress and attack by pests and diseases. Thus, in the present study the agronomic variables in tomato were evaluated with the application of silicon dioxide (SiO2). For this, two sources of silicon were applied (Diatomax Agri and Bilnet 40 cc/L water) and compared with a control treatment and its effect on the incidence of the main pests and diseases, as well as on agronomic parameters (plant height, number of flowers, number of fruits, weight of fruits, equatorial and polar diameter of fruits and color of fruits). Although no significant effect of the treatment was observed, the percentages of incidence of bacterial pests and diseases were numerically lower in plants treated with Diatomax Agri and Bilnet when compared to the control. The effect of silicon application on plant height was observed mainly when it was applied with a frequency of 21 days. Numerical differences were observed in plants treated with Diatomax Agri and Bilnet, which had an average of flowers between 4.7 and 4.9 flowers at the first plant floor compared to 3.9 flowers in the control plants, however, no variations were observed in the number of flowers when the second plant floor was compared. Finally, no effect was demonstrated on the equatorial and polar diameter, as well as on the color of the fruit.