The effect of treatment with orange and banana peel extract on the growth and production of tomato plants in protected agriculture

Abstract

The research was carried out in the village of Karto – Baniyas – Tartous region in the autumn season of 2022 within a plastic house dimensions of 42 * 8 * 3 m² covered with polyethylene plastic with a thickness of 200 microns, with the aim of studying the effect of orange and banana peel extract on the growth and production of protected tomato plants grown in greenhouse. The experiment included treating Dana tomato hybrid plants with orange and banana peel extract at concentrations of 2 and 4 ml/l by foliar spraying or adding by irrigation separately. In addition to the control treatment, to study the indicators of vegetative and fruit growth and productivity, which were represented by plant length, leaf surface area, total chlorophyll amount in leaves, and production of the experimental plants.  The experiment was designed according to a completely randomized block design. The total number of treatments was (9) treatments, each with three replicates and each replicate containing 6 plants. The total number of replicates was 27 replicates, and the total number of plants was 162 plants, planted in cork containers with a capacity of 28 liters, and good soil was used and properties of medium consistency after sterilizing it in the sun.

The results showed that the spray treatment with banana peel extract at two concentrations of 2 and 4 ml/L was superior in average plant height, leaf surface area, total chlorophyll content, and fruit weight to the spray treatment with orange peel extract, with significant differences. The highest increase was in the average plant height, leaf surface area, chlorophyll, and fruit weight in the spray treatment with banana peel extract at the second concentration of 4 ml/l, the average plant height reached 2.24 m/plant, leaf surface area was 13200 cm2/plant, the total chlorophyll content was 1.233 mg/g, and fruit weight was 5.5 kg/plant, with an increase rate of (38.27, 23.13, 55.59 and 33.81) %, respectively, compared to the untreated control.

The results showed the effectiveness of irrigation and spraying with orange and banana peel extract at concentrations of 2 and 4 ml/l, and with two treatment methods
 (spraying, irrigation) in stimulating vegetative and fruit growth and increasing productivity in protected tomato plants through an increase in the average plant height, leaf surface area, total chlorophyll content, and fruit weight in the treatments.  The whole experiment had significant differences compared to the control.