Effect of Growing Medium Type and Foliar Application of K.P.N Fertilizer on the Growth and Yield of Cherry Tomato under Unheated Greenhouse Conditions.

The experiment was conducted at the research station of the College of Agriculture, University of Kufa, Najaf Governorate, during the ۲۰۲۵ growing season to determine the effect of growing medium type and foliar spraying with NPK fertilizer on the growth, yield, and post-harvest quality of cherry tomato fruits. The growing media included four treatments: Sand as the control (C۱), a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (۱:۱) (C۲), a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (۱:۲) (C۳), and a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (۲:۱) (C۴). Foliar spraying with NPK fertilizer was applied at concentrations of ۰, ۳, and ۴ g L⁻¹. The experiment was conducted as a Split Plot Design according to a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. In addition to pre-harvest measurements (plant height, leaf number, leaf area, total chlorophyll, and total yield), a comprehensive post-harvest quality evaluation was performed. This included fruit firmness (kg/cm²), total soluble solids (TSS, %), titratable acidity (%), vitamin C content (mg/۱۰۰g f.w.), lycopene content (mg/۱۰۰g f.w.), β-carotene content (mg/۱۰۰g f.w.), total phenolic content (mg GAE/۱۰۰g f.w.), and DPPH radical scavenging activity (%). A sensory evaluation using a ۹-point hedonic scale was also conducted. The results showed that the C۲ growing medium (peat moss:perlite ۱:۱) combined with NPK at ۳ g L⁻¹ significantly improved both yield and post-harvest quality, producing fruits with the highest firmness (۳.۸۲ kg/cm²), vitamin C (۲۸.۴ mg/۱۰۰g), total phenolics (۱۴۵.۲ mg GAE/۱۰۰g), and antioxidant activity (۶۸.۷%), as well as the highest sensory acceptability (۸.۳/۹).

کلیدواژه ها:

Cherry tomato ، Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme ، Post-Harvest Quality ، Antioxidant activity ، Sensory evaluation ، food processing