Abstract:

To investigate the effects of castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer on the growth, fruit yield, and quality of tomato plants, a pot experiment was conducted using cherry tomato varieties as experimental materials. A total of five treatments including no fertilization (CK), chemical fertilizer (HF, 4 g/plant) and three different application gradients [20 g/plant(BF₁), 40 g/plant(BF₂), 80 g/plant(BF₃)] of castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer were set up. The results showed that compared with CK, the plant height of tomato plants treated with BF₃ during the fruiting and harvesting periods increased by 16.82%-20.23%. During the fruiting period, the stem diameter of BF₂ treatment increased by 34.04%, and during the harvesting period, the stem diameter of BF₁ treatment increased by 41.30%. Fruit weight and number of fruits per plant of BF₁ treatment were the best during the harvesting period, and the average yield per plant increased by 496.98%. The content of vitamin C, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and soluble solids in tomatoes treated with BF₃ increased by 28.57%, 63.49%, 77.43% and 16.43%, respectively. The dry matter mass of roots, stems and leaves showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increase of application rate of castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer. 20 g/plant of castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer has a significant promoting effect on the growth and yield of tomato plants, while 80 g/plant of castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer has the best effect on the fruit quality of tomato plants.

Key words: castor bean microbial enzyme biological fertilizer, cherry tomato, potted plant, growth, dry matter, yield, quality