Aminoquelant-Ca In tomato
The study here presented was done in the Experimental Station Garina (Argentine) during the past agricultural season.
Selected crop was tomato var. XPH 12055. Plants were separated by intervals of 40 cm between each other. The plants were in furrows and irrigated once per week, and received the equivalent of 5 m3/240 m2 of organic matter of bovine origin.
Product to be tested was AMINOQUELANT-Ca, with three treatments as follows:
• Untreated check sample (T)
• 300 cc AQ-Ca/100 | H2O/application (AQ-Ca 0,3%)
• 600 cc AQ-Ca/100 | H2O/aplication (AQ-Ca 0,6%)
There were done four applications every two weeks after the onset of ripening of the first batch of fruits. Parameters analysed were: total production per plant, number of fruits and percentage of fruits affected by blossom-end-rot (BER)
The table below shows the results obtained. The parenthesized figure is the percentage of every parameter in relation to the check sample.
Plants treated with Aminoquelant-Ca experienced a considerable increase in the output in Kg/plant when compared to the untreated check sample, with increments in the order of 20%. Differences in production between treatments 0.3% and 0.6% were minimal. (121 vs. 118).
It is observed also an increase in the number of commercial fruits per plant in the units that received Aminoquelant-Ca, although this increase was inferior to that of production. This means that Aminoquelant-Ca not only provokes a bigger number of healthy fruits but also an increase in its average weight.
Finally, we can deduce that, under the conditions of this test, treatment with AQ-Ca al 0.3% does not improves the number of BER-free fruits if we compare results with that of the check sample. This could be explained that at this concentration, the supply of calcium is still insufficient for the fruits.
However, the treatment with AQ-Ca at 0.6% achieves much better results if compared with the check sample not receiving any treatment. The percentage of fruits affected by BER or NECROSIS APICAL decreased by more than 80%
Conclusions
Both treatments with Aminoquelant-Ca increased the number of commercial fruits per plant and the cultivation output.
Increases observed in production (in Kg/plant) were 21% (AQ-Ca 0.3%) and 18% (AQ-Ca 0.6%) respectively.
On the other hand, treatment with Arminoquelant-Ca at doses of 0.6% drastically reduced the percentage of fruits suffering from blossom-end-rot, so the improvement was not only quantitative but also qualitative.