INFLUENCE OF MICRONUTRIENTS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF CHERRY TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L. VAR. CERASIFORME (DUNNAL) A. GRAY) UNDER PROTECTED CONDITION

An investigation was carried out at the Naturally ventilated polyhouse, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, CAU, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh during the year 2021-22 to study the influence of different concentration of micronutrients on growth and quality attributes cherry tomato.The experiment consisted of 11 treatments laid out in Randomised Block Design with 3 replication namely T 1 (Control), T 2 (RDF + Zinc sulphate (ZnSO 4 ) @100ppm), T 3 (RDF + Zinc sulphate (ZnSO 4 ) @200ppm), T 4 (RDF + Boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ) @50ppm), T 5 (RDF + Boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ) @100ppm),T 6 (RDF + Copper sulphate (CuSO 4 ) @50ppm), T 7 (RDF + Copper sulphate (CuSO 4 ) @100ppm), T 8 (RDF+ Magnesium sulphate (MgSO 4 ) @50ppm), T 9 (RDF + Magnesium sulphate (MgSO 4 ) @100ppm), T 10 (RDF + ZnSO 4 @200ppm + H 3 BO 3 @100ppm + CuSO 4 @100ppm + MgSO 4 @100ppm), T 11 (RDF + Tracel (Commercial micronutrient mixture) @5g/litre).These treatments were sprayed at 30,60 and 90 DAT of cherry tomato.Results revealed that T 11 (RDF+ Tracel (Commercial micronutrient mixture) @5g/litre) exhibited maximum values for almost all of the parameters i.e., growth and yield parameters viz., plant height (2.03 m 2.79 m, 3.05 m at 60,90 and 120 DAT ), fruit weight (13.80 g), fruit length (24.65 mm), fruit girth (22.72 mm), number of clusters per plant (21.67), number of fruits per cluster (8.52), yield per plant (2.86 kg), yield per plot (28.56 kg) and yield per hectare (62.83 t/ha) and it was at par with T 10 for almost all parameters.Quality parameters viz.TSS (8.76B), ascorbic acid (56.01 mg/100g) and lycopene content (6.65 mg/100g) was recorded maximum in T 11 and was at par with T 10 .Treatment T 11 exhibited minimum values for days to first fruit maturity (25.33) and days to first fruit harvest (86.54) followed by T 10 (26.33 and 87.94 respectively).