Effect of foliar application of seaweed extracts combined with other active ingredients on tomato plants irrigated with high boron concentration
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most consumed and demanded crops around the world due to its numerous health benefits.
However, its production and quality have been affected by various abiotic stresses, such as boron toxicity.
Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants that, when found in high concentrations in irrigation water, can negatively affect crop quality and vegetative development of these plants.
One of the agronomic strategies proposed to help plants mitigate the harmful effect of boron is the application of biostimulant products based on algae extracts.
This raw material presents a wide and varied biochemical and nutritional profile, with a large number of chemical compounds with biological activity, which could be beneficial for plants grown under stress conditions.
Thus, the objectives of this study were: 1) to know the morphological and physiological behaviour of tomato plants of the cultivar ‘Óptima’ when irrigated with water containing 15 mg L‑1 of boron, and 2) to know if the foliar application of the extract of the brown seaweed Laminaria digitata, together with metalloids, can alleviate or reverse the negative effects of B in this crop.
The agronomic results of this study show that plant production was strongly affected by the high concentration of boron in the irrigation water, and this was due to a reduction in the average fruit weight, while the number of fruits plant‑1 was not affected.
Boron toxicity caused an alteration in primary metabolism in the leaves.
On the other hand, the application of the products based on the brown seaweed extract did not decrease the negative effects on yield due to boron induced high toxicity, but they did influence the metabolic processes of the tomato plants, which might suggest that their application could be useful for irrigation with water of lower boron concentration.
Navarro-Pérez, V., García-Sánchez, F. and Simón-Grao, S. (2025). Effect of foliar application of seaweed extracts combined with other active ingredients on tomato plants irrigated with high boron concentration. Acta Hortic. 1416, 93-100
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.12
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.12
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.12
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1416.12
tomato, biostimulants, abiotic stress, agriculture, algae
English
1416_12
93-100