Determinación de un sustrato, para el desarrollo del cultivo de tomate de riñón (Solanum lycopersicum) en contenedores

Abstract

The soil is a highly variable substrate, so its physicochemical properties are often unknown or difficult to handle. This ignorance of the properties of the soil and the difficulty to modify them, directly influences the performance of the crops, because the soil is the main means to provide nutrition, water and anchorage to the crops. For this reason, in intensive production systems, the development of substrates and amendments designed to modify specific soil properties has been favored, and consequently favor the development of crops. The kidney tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), is considered an intensive crop of great economic importance, worldwide and regionally. In several cantons of Azuay, it is grown largely under greenhouse conditions and in the soil. The objective of this project was to identify combinations of three components of planting substrates, which optimize the development of a tomato crop in containers, under typical greenhouse conditions of Azuayos valleys. The components that were evaluated were pumice, recycled polystyrene particles and compost. The results showed that indeed the mixtures between these substrates gave favorable results for the development of the crop, the mixtures between pumice stone and compost responded with positive results both in the development of the crop, as well as in cost / benefit ratio, in all the variables evaluated, being well above the control treatment.