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Comparison between Organic and Inorganic

Nutrition for Tomato

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 Journal of Plant Nutrition

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Comparison between Organic

and Inorganic Nutrition for
Tomato

M. A. Youssef & M. A. Eissa

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JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION

Comparison between Organic and Inorganic Nutrition for Tomato

M. A. Youssef1 and M. A. Eissa2

1
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt.
2
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt.

ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution and costs of mineral fertilization impelled scientists and farmers to ARTICLE HISTORY
ask for friendly environmental fertilizers. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect Received 05 October 2015
Accepted 08 February 2016
of different combinations of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, feldspar, and bio-fertilizers
[Microbine (Bio-N), Phosphorin (Bio-P) and Potassiumag (Bio-K)] on the growth, yield and
quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants. The mixture of rabbit manure, rock
phosphate, and feldspar + Bio-N-P-K increased the tomato fruit yield by 30% compared to
the inorganic fertilization. The application of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar
with the bio-fertilizer (Bio-N-P-K) inoculation increased the concentration of N, P, and K in the
leaves of tomato by 34, 35, and 50% compared to the same treatment without the bio-
fertilizers. The current study clearly depicted that the natural minerals (rock phosphate and
feldspar) and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium bio-fertilization may lead to higher yields
and better fruit quality than conventional fertilization.

Introduction

Bio-fertilizers became a positive alternative to chemical fertilizers, due to their role in

plant and soil health. In general, they play important and complex roles in plant growth.
They improve fruit quality and yield components of crops by various biochemical activities
i. e., add nutrients (e.g. biological N fixation), solubilizing phosphorus, and increasing the
availability and uptake of nutrients by their biological activity (Amutha et al., 2014; Meena
et al., 2014; Fernandes and Bhalerao, 2015). Bio-fertilizers can be applied to seed, plant
surfaces, root, soil, colonizes the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant (Fernandes and
Bhalerao, 2015; Rajasekaran et al., 2015). Bio-fertilizers provide eco-friendly organic
inputs and are more cost effective than chemical fertilizers (Shayan et al., 2013; Toyota and
Watanabe, 2013).
Rabbit manure as an organic fertilizer is recognized to have positive influences on
soil nutrition, soil physical conditions, soil microbial, and biological activities, improve soil
aeration, retention of water, and reduce soil pH (Nyakatawa et al., 2001; Ramesh, 2008,
Efthimiadou et al., 2010; Mohammadi et al., 2011; Orrell and Bennett, 2013). Organic
manures hold great promise as an excellent source of both macro and micro nutrients.
Organic manures provide organic acids which help in the dissolving soil nutrients and
make them available for plants (Rajasekaran et al., 2015; Mondal et al., 2015; Sharma and
Chaubey, 2015; Saeed et al., 2015).
Natural minerals (e.g., rock phosphate and feldspar) release P, K, Ca, and Mg into
soil solution. Rock phosphate as a P source contains 19.3-36.2% P2O5, and feldspar is a
natural rock as a K source contains 3.4-10.1% K2O (Abou El-Yazeid and Abou-Aly, 2011).

CONTACT Mamdouh A. Eissa mamduhessa@gmail.com Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of

Agriculture, Assiut University Assiut 71526, Egypt.
© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 M. A. Youssef and M. A. Eissa

They are applied to soils in as finely (100-mesh) ground natural products. The use of rock
phosphate and feldspar fertilizers has increased recently as cheap fertilizers. Addition of
rock phosphate and feldspar to cropland is known to increase the availability of P and K
and significantly increase biomass yield (Schneider et al., 2010; Zhao et al., 2014).
Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms play an important role in plant nutrition and
allow the use of cheaper crude P sources such as rock-phosphate instead of superphosphate.
(Khan et al., 2007; Mohamed et al., 2008; Sharma et al., 2013).
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a major important species in the world
food vegetable, and cultivated area and production have been constantly increasing (FAO
statistics, 2006). Today, tomato is grown commercially in 159 countries. The major
producers of tomatoes, in 2009 were China, the United States, India, Turkey, Egypt, Italy,
and Iran (Ibrahim et al., 2015). In Egypt, the tomato is considered one of the most popular
important vegetable crops for fresh consumption or processing (Ibrahim et al., 2015). The
cultivated area of tomato in Egypt increased considerably during the last two decades, and
the total cultivated area and productivity of tomato in Egypt was estimated at 216481 ha,
yielding 8571050 ton with an average of 39.5 ton ha−1 (FAO, 2013). Finding the optimum
combinations of amendments and bio-fertilizers, which would improve soil conditions and
enhance plant growth, will be the main point controlling the success of obtaining a high
economic return. This work aims to investigate the effect of some bio-fertilizers, organic
manure, and natural minerals on the growth, yield, and quality of tomato.

Material and methods

Pot experiment

A pot experiment accomplished at the Agricultural Experimental Farm of the Faculty

of Agriculture, AL-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt, which is located at 27o 12- 16.67= N
latitude and 31o 09- 36.86= E longitude. Table 1 shows selected soil properties of the soil
used in the pot experiment. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of
different combinations of rabbit manure (RM), rock phosphate (RP), feldspar (F), and bio-
fertilizers [Microbine (Bio-N), Phosphorin (Bio-P) and Potassiumag (Bio-K)] on the yield,
growth and quality of tomato. The experiment included six treatments: (T1) consisted of a
combination of rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit
manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil; (T2) consisted of T1 + Bio-N; (T3) consisted of T1 + Bio-K;
(T4) consisted of T1 +Bio-P; (T5) consisted of T1 + Bio-N + Bio-P + Bio-K), and the sixth
treatment was a check treatment (CK) consisted of 200:100:75 mg of NPK kg−1 of soil as a
chemical fertilizer. Table 2 shows the different fertilization treatments. All of the
treatments were mixed with the soil before the cultivation of tomato plants in the pots.
Black plastic pots (25 cm diameter and 35 cm height) were filled with 10 kg of soil, and
one seedling of tomato was transplanted in the pots at 10th of September of 2014. Pots
were irrigated near field capacity. The treatments were arranged in randomized complete
block design with 3 replicates.
The rock phosphate (RP) was brought from Mangabad Superphosphate Factory,
Assiut, Egypt; the feldspar (F) was brought from the New Valley governorate, and the
rabbit manure (RM) was brought from the Animal Production Farm, Faculty of Agric., AL-
Azhar Univ., Assiut, Egypt. Table 3 shows selected chemical properties of rock phosphate
and feldspar.
 3 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION

Three types of bio-fertilizers were used in the pot experiment: Phosphorine which a
phosphorus biofertilizer contains phosphoru dissolving bacteria (Bacillus sp.), Microbine a
nirogen biofertilizer contains a mixture of Azotobacter chroococcum and Asospirillum
lipoferem which are nonsymbiotic nitrogen fixers, and Potassiumag a potassium
biofertilizer contains (Bacillus circulans). All of the bio-fertilizers are manufactured by
Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

Table 1. Physical and chemical characteristics of the studied soil (0−30 cm)
Soil properties Value
Clay (g kg−1) 562
Silt (g kg−1) 210
Sand (g kg−1) 228
Texture Silty clay loam
CaCO3 (g kg−1) 50
CEC (cmol kg−1) 18
pH (1:2.5) 7.96
ECe (dS m−1) 0.96
Organic carbon (g kg−1) 13.0
Total nitrogen (mg kg−1) 350
Available nitrogen (mg kg−1) 18
Available−P (mg kg−1) 9.5
Available−K (mg kg−1) 210
Each value is the mean of three replicates

Table 2. The different fertilization treatments of the pot experiment

Treatments Contents
CK 200:100:75 mg of N: P: K kg−1 of soil as chemical fertilizers
T1 rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil
T2 rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil + Bio-N
T3 rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil + Bio-K
T4 rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil + Bio-P
T5 rock phosphate at 200 mg kg−1 soil + feldspar at 200 mg kg−1 soil + rabbit manure at 500 mg kg−1 soil + Bio-N + Bio-P + Bio-K

Table 3. Some chemical properties of rabbit manure and natural minerals

OC N P2O5 K2O
Materials EC dSm-1 pH
%
Rabbit manure 9.6 7.27 12.0 2.48 1.52 1.04
Rock phosphate 1.04 7.66 26.30 0.17
Feldspar 7.20 8.01 0.45 7.88
Each value is the mean of three replicates.

Some characteristics of the studied soil, rock phosphate, feldspar, and rabbit manure
were determined according to Page et al. (1982). The available soil N was extracted by 2 M
potassium chloride, the available P was extracted by 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate at pH 8.5,
and the available potassium was extracted by ammonium acetate 1 M at pH 7.0 (Page et al.,
1982). The pH of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar was measured in 1:10 rabbit
manure / water ratio suspension and electrical conductivity (EC) was measured in 1:10
extract. The pH of rock phosphate and feldspar was measured in a 1:5 suspension, and
electrical conductivity (EC) was measured in 1:5 extract.
 4 M. A. Youssef and M. A. Eissa

Measured Parameters

Harvesting was started after 108 days from transplanting; the collected fruits were
transferred to the laboratory to study the yield, quality and growth characteristics including
total fruit yield, fresh and dry biomass of whole shoots, fruit diameter, and water content.
The fresh weights were measured, and then the dry weights were recorded after drying in a
thermo-ventilated oven at 70°C until constant weight. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
in plant in the leaves of tomato were determined after the digestion of samples in H2SO4
and H2O2. N was measured by Kjeldahl method, P was measured by spectrophotometer, K
were measured by flam photometer method (AOAC, 2000). Six tomato fruits per pot were
selected randomly to evaluate the fruit juice quality attributes including: total soluble solid
content, T.S.S. (°Brix); total acidity, TA (%); electrical conductivity, EC (dS/m); and the
pH. The parameters of juice quality were determined through standard methods according
to (AOAC, 2000). Six tomato fruits per pot were selected randomly, to evaluate the fruit
juice quality attributes. The selected fruits were washed by tap water and then by distilled
water. The tomato juice was extracted using a juice extractor and the EC and pH were
measured directly in the juice. To determined the total soluble solid (TSS), 50 ml of the
juice was filtered using cheesecloth and then the TSS was determined with a digital
refractometer (Digit 032, CETI, Belgium, ranged from 0 to 32 °Brix). The refractrometer
was standardized against distilled water at 0 °Brix before recording the reads of the
samples. Two drops of clear juice of each sample were placed on the prism and then the
°Brix reading was recorded. Between samples the prism of the refractrometer was washed
with distilled water and dried before use. The total acidity (TA) of tomato was measured
by the titration method. The fruit juice of each sample was filtered through cheesecloth
and the slurry was centrifuged for 15 min. The decanted clear juice was used for the
analysis. The total acidity was obtained by titrating 10 ml of tomato juice to pH 8.2 with
0.01 N NaOH manually. The result was expressed as grams of citric acid per 100 g of fresh
tomato weight. Data were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) method
according to Snedecor and Cochran (1990). Duncan's multiple range tests at the 5% level
of probability was used to compare means of treatments.

Results and discussion

Effect of fertilization treatments on the yield of tomato

Data presented in Fig. 1 show the fruit yield of tomato as affected by the different
combination of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, feldspar, and bio-fertilizer. The tomato
plants which were fertilized with T3, T4, or T5 gave the highest fruit yield compared to the
other fertilization treatments. T3, T4, or T5 increased the fruit yield of tomato by about 35,
58, and 30% compared to the inorganic fertilization (CK). Neither the fertilization of
tomato with T1 (a mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar) nor T2 (a
mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate and feldspar + Bio-N) gives any significant
increase in tomato fruit yield. The whole shoots of tomato plants were affected by the
organic and inorganic fertilization treatments (Fig. 2). The highest fresh and dry weights of
whole shoots were recorded in the tomato plants which were fertilized with the inorganic
fertilizers (CK). In general, the application of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar
with the bio-fertilizer increased yield of tomato.
5 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION

500 a
a a
400
b b
300 b
g plant−1
200

100

0
CK. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Figure 1. Fruit yield of tomato (harvested after 108 days of planting) as affected by the
different fertilization treatments. The means followed by the same letter were not
significantly different according to Duncan’s test at P=0.05.

100 a Fresh weight Dry weight

b
b
80 c
d d
60
g plant−1

40 a ab
b b c b
20

0
CK. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Figure 2. Whole shoot fresh and dry weights of tomato (harvested after 108 days of
planting) as affected by the different fertilization treatments. The means followed by the
same letter were not significantly different according to Duncan’s test at P=0.05.

This effect may be due to the beneficial effects of these treatments on increasing nutrient
supply (Mokbel, et al., 2013). These results are in harmony with other published results
(Efthimiadou et al., 2010; Mohammadi et al., 2011; Sharma and Chaubey, 2015; Saeed et
al., 2015).

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentrations in the leaves of tomato

Fig. 3, 4, and 5 show the concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and
potassium (K) in the leaves of tomato as affected by the studied fertilization treatments.
The highest concentration of N was in the leaves of tomato fertilized with T2 or T5. The
fertilization of tomato with a mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar + Bio-
N-P-K (T5) increased the N concentration in the leaves by 19% compared to the inorganic
fertilization (CK). The highest concentration of P was in the leaves of tomato fertilized
with T4 or T5. The fertilization of tomato with a mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate,
and feldspar + Bio-P (T4) increased the P concentration in the leaves by 19% compared to
the inorganic fertilization (CK). The highest concentration of K was in the leaves of tomato
which were fertilized with T3 or T5. The fertilization of tomato with a mixture of rabbit
manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar + Bio-K (T3) increased the K concentration in the
leaves by 40% compared to the inorganic fertilization (CK).
 6 M. A. Youssef and M. A. Eissa

The application of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar with the bio-fertilizer
(Bio-N-P-K) (T5) increased the concentration of N, P, and K in the leaves of tomato by 34,
35, and 50% in comparison to the same treatment without the bio-fertilizer (T2). Bio-N,
Bio-P, or Bio-K increased the uptake of N, P, and K. This results may be due to the
enhancing root growth and increasing availability of that nutrients in soil solution (Taha et
al., 2011; Ramakrishnan and Selvakumar, 2012; Toyota and Watanabe, 2013; Amutha et
al., 2014).

30 a a
b
25 c
20 d d
g kg−1

15
10
5
0
CK. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Figure 3. Nitrogen concentrations in the leaves of tomato as affected by the different fertilization
treatments. The means followed by the same letter were not significantly different according to
Duncan’s test at P=0.05.
14 a ab
bc bc
12
10 d d
8
g kg−1

6
4
2
0
CK. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Figure 4. Phosphorus concentrations in the leaves of tomato as affected by the different fertilization
treatments. The means followed by the same letter were not significantly different according to
Duncan’s test at P=0.05.

8 a
7
ab
6
bc bc bc
5
g kg−1

cd
4
3
2
1
0
CK. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Figure 5. Potassium concentrations in the leaves of tomato as affected by the different fertilization
treatments. The means followed by the same letter were not significantly different according to
Duncan’s test at P=0.05.
 7 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION

Effect of fertilization treatments on the fruit quality of tomato

The total soluble solid contents (TSS) and total acidity (TA %) of tomato juice were
affected by the different combinations of fertilizers (Table, 4). The highest values of TSS
(5.15°Brix) and total acidity (0.39 %) were detected with the check treatment (CK), and the
lowest values of T.S.S (2.97°Brix) and TA (0.20 %) were detected with T4. In general, the
mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate and feldspar with or without bio-fertilization
decreased the TSS and TA values compared to the inorganic fertilization. Under high
available soil water the root may absorb more water resulted in a reduction in the T.S.S by
water dilution. These results are in harmony with Meena et al. (2014) and El-Tohamy et al.
(2009).
The results in Table (4) showed that the alkalinity, pH, and electrical conductivity
(EC) of tomato juice were influenced by the different combinations of fertilizers. The pH
values ranged from 4.20 to 4.38. The highest value was observed with the check treatment
(CK), and the lowest one was observed with T2. The highest value of EC (2.48 dSm-1) was
recorded with the plants which supplied by the check treatment. These results are
agreement with the results of other investigators (Gulshan et al., 2013; Fernandes and
Bhalerao, 2015; Sharma and Chaubey, 2015).

Table 4. Selected quality characteristics of tomato fruit as affected by the different

fertilization treatments. The means followed by the same letter were not significantly
different according to Duncan’s test at P=0.05
Fruit diameter Fruit water T.S.S Total acidity EC
Treatments pH
(cm) (%) (°Brix) (%) (dS m−1)
CK 4.23 b 50.24 d 5.15 a 0.39 a 4.38 a 2.487 a
T1 4.33 b 77.66 a 3.68 b 0.28 c 4.36 a 1.743c d
T2 4.14 b 72.03 a 3.60 b 0.34 b 4.20 c 2.180 b
T3 4.25 b 63.74 c 3.28 c 0.25 c 4.22 c 1.900 c
T4 4.74 a 70.29 b 2.97 c 0.20 d 4.25 bc 1.687 cd
T5 4.73 a 77.52 a 3.23 c 0.22 d 4.27 b 1.613 d

Effect of fertilizers combinations on some soil properties

Some soil properties i.e., pH, EC, OM as well N, P, and K availability were studied
after the harvesting of tomato plants (Table, 5). A slight decrease in the soil pH values was
observed if the soil was amended with T1, T2, T3, T4, or T5. The highest significant value
of soil pH was recorded with inorganic fertilization (CK). The soil pH was decreased by
the application of mixture of rabbit manure, rock phosphate, and feldspar due to the
production of organic acids during the mineralization of organic manure (Banerjee et al.,
2011).
Data of the available soil N, P, and K (Table, 5) suggest increases in the availability
of N, P, and K in T5 treatment compared to the CK treatment. The availability of soil N
was increased by four-fold in the soil of T5 compared to the CK treatment. The availability
of P in soil increased by 18 and 15% in the soil of T4 and T5, respectively, compared to the
soil of CK treatment. The availability of K in soil increased by 16 and 12% in the soil of T5
and T3, respectively, compared to the soil of CK treatment. In general, bio-fertilization
with (Bio-N-P-K) increased the availability of soil N, P, and K.
 8 M. A. Youssef and M. A. Eissa

After mineralization, rabbit manure provides the soil with organic acids that help to
dissolve soil nutrients and make them available for the plants (Bertand and Cleyetmarel,
2008, Mondal et al., 2015). The beneficial effects of combined organic manure with bio-
fertilizer on availability of nutrients were mentioned by Abou El-Yazeid and Abou-Aly
(2011), Zhao et al. (2014), and Fernandes and Bhalerao (2015).

Table 5. Selected soil properties after tomato harvest as affected by the different
fertilization treatments (dry weight bases). The means followed by the same letter were not
significantly different according to Duncan’s test at P=0.05
N P K
Treatments pH EC (µS cm−1) O.M (%)
(mg kg−1)
CK 8.75 a 265.67 a 2.22 d 28.13 d 8.23 c 50.17 cd
T1 8.20 bc 159.00 bc 2.88 a 59.30 c 8.39 c 50.96 cd
T2 8.10 c 186.33 b 2.67 b 53.73 d 8.84 b 48.07 d
T3 8.32 b 197.67 b 2.87 a 76.10 b 8.08 c 56.61 b
T4 8.25 b 178.67 bc 2.59 b 58.90 c 9.93 a 51.17 c
T5 8.15 bc 111.66 c 2.61 b 100.73 a 9.50 a 58.08 a

Conclusion
The application of combinations of different fertilizers has an additive impact on the
growth, quality, and yield of tomato plants and improves soil health. Combination of rock
phosphate, feldspar, and rabbit manure with Microbine (Bio-N), Phosphorin (Bio-P) and
Potassiumag (Bio-K) significantly enhanced vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality of
tomato plants. This improvement will greatly help in development of organic farming
techniques and considerably reduce the cost of production and environmental hazards due
to dependence on synthetic fertilizers.

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