TITLE:
Production and Nutritional Quality of Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. Cerasiforme) Are Improved in the Presence of Biochar and Inoculation with Arbuscular Mycorrhizae
AUTHORS:
Wilson Castañeda, Marcia Toro, Andi Solorzano, Doris Zúñiga-Dávila
KEYWORDS:
Glomeromycota Fungi, Yield, Polyphenols
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.11 No.3,
March
26,
2020
ABSTRACT: Tomato is a fruit of great nutritional interest in
the basic human diet. The increasing use of agrochemicals to maintain
production requires new alternatives to reduce environmental impact. Arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM)
are beneficial microorganisms that favor the growth of plants improving their
nutrition and development, protecting the plant from biotic and abiotic
stresses and favoring the production of bioactive compounds that increase their
nutritional value. The use of biochar as soil conditioner is also considered an
environmentally friendly resource. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to
observe the effect of the use of biochar and AM inoculation on the quality of
fruits, yield and polyphenols production of Cherry tomato, Solanum lycopersicum var. Cerasiforme. A mixture of rice husk
biochar with sterile sand and two inoculums of Glomeromycota native fungi: from
a wetland (GWI) and a fallow field (GFI) were used. Control treatments
consisted of inoculation with both GWI and GFI in sterile sand. All treatments
were irrigated with 50% La Molina? hydroponic solution. After 12 weeks plants
were harvested to quantify weight, number and diameters of the fruits, and
yield, total
polyphenols in the fruit pulp were quantified. In the presence of biochar and
the two inoculums, GFI and GWI, fruit production was favored throughout the
experiment. The height of the plants was significantly greater in the presence
of biochar. Plants grown in biochar and inoculated with GFI had a yield of 8.2
MT/Ha, increasing in 50% this value respect to control with biochar (5.33
MT/Ha). This treatment doubled the number of fruits (59.5) with respect to the
control (32.5). Root colonization by GFI was not affected by the presence of
biochar. It is concluded that the combined use of rice husk biochar and Glomeromycota
fungal inoculation is recommended for increasing of Cherry tomato yield and
improving fruit quality through the production of bioactive compounds.