Effects of substrates on the growth and fruit quality of hydroponically grown tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Katinka

This experiment was carried out to investigate the plant growth and fruit yield of hydroponically grown tomatoes in different substrates. The substrates tested in this experiment were formulated perlite (fine and coarse granule), peatmoss, rice hull and carbonized rice hull. When compared in terms of total fruit yield and average fruit weight, the best results were obtained with pure perlite, followed by perlite mixed with rice hull and carbonized rice hull, in that order. Leaf area was also higher in plots of mixed substrate consisted of 5 perlite : 3 peatmoss : 2 carbonized rice hull by volume. The more rice hull was added to the mixed substrate, the lower the fruit yield. Rice hull alone resulted in the lowest fruit yield but increased the sugar contents of the fruits to over 6.0 degrees Brix.