Efficacy of Moringa Extract on the Morphological Parameters of Hydroponically Grown Tomatoes (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.)

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) belongs to the “Solanaceae” family and is the second most extensively grown vegetable around the world after potato. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Moringa Leaf Extract (MLE) as alternative to chemical fertilizers on growth and yield of hydroponically grown tomatoes in greenhouse conditions based on plant height centimeter (cm), number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area (cm), days to first flowering after sowing, number of flower clusters per plant, number of flowers per plant, days to first fruit set after sowing, fruit set percentage (%), number of fruit/plant, average individual fruit weight gram (g), fruit size, and total yield per plant kilogram (kg). The experiment was conducted at four different concentration levels of moringa extract. The morphological parameters increased with an increase in moringa leaf extract concentration from Tₒ control (only distilled water), T₁ (35%) MLE, T₂ (70%) MLE, and T₃ (100%) MLE (pure). The maximum fruit yield (29.687 kg plant^-1) was observed in treatment T3 (pure moringa leaf extract). From this study, it was concluded that the highest percentage of moringa leaf extract resulted in yield enhancement.