THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF EXTRACTS ON THE QUALITY OF HYDROPONICALLY GROWN TOMATOES IN GREENHOUSE CONDITION

Abstract

Greenhouses offers one of the optimistic approaches to ensuring sustainable food production in water stressed and urban environment. Among vegetable crops, tomato is the most cultivated under greenhouse condition for its better and off-season production which requires extensive usage of nutrient-rich water circulation. Commercially available fertilizers are costly and have adverse effects on tomato quality. Sustainable cultivation of tomatoes require proper application of nutrient management and bio-stimulant i.e. moringa leaf extract (MLE) that offers required macro and micronutrient including phytohormones. A study was conducted to evaluate the consequence of moringa olifera on the quality of hydroponically grown tomatoes. Performance of various concentration rates of moringa leaf extract on the quality parameters including pH, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, and fruit firmness were measured. Results showed that different concentrations of moringa leaf extract had an optimistic influence on the quality of tomatoes compared to control Tₒ (only distilled water). Treatment T3 pure moringa leaf extract (100% MLE) shown maximum values while the treatment Tₒ control shows minimum values on the quality. Quality of the tomatoes was improved by increasing the concentration of moringa leaf extract and this has proven a sustainable and environment friendly production technology.