Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
early studies, the exogenous calcium supplied through tomato roots (Hall, 1977; Sachan and
Sharma, 1981) or through leaves (Eraslan et al., 2007; Freitas et al., 2012) by the spraying
methods can both increase the Ca uptake of tomato plants and enhance the immunity to
diseases.
Flue-cured tobaccos are important industrial crop significant to the national economy for
China. In southwest China, most of the rain falls during the early and middle growth stages
of flue-cured tobacco, and periodic drought often happens at the later growth period of
flue-cured tobacco, this will not enable the upper leaves maturing normally, resulting in a
poor availability of upper leaves, so it is important to discover technologies for the drought
resisting and the tobacco quality and yield improvement (Hou et al., 2012; Hou et al, 2013).
Water-retaining agent has been applied in many areas (Kumar and Dey, 2011; Truax and
Gagnon, 1993). However, in studies of flue-cured tobacco cultivation, application of the
water-retaining agent is still in a research vacant. At present, many studies have reported
the application of EM in agricultural production (Hu and Qi, 2013a, b; Javaid, 2010; Khaliq
et al., 2006). EM can quickly decompose organic matter, metabolize antioxidant substan‐
ces and inhibit the proliferation of harmful microorganisms (Daly and Stewart, 1999;
Daming, 1999; Heo et al., 2008).
In conclusion, many studies (Heo et al., 2008; Hu and Qi, 2013b; Khaliq et al., 2006) have been
undertaken on the application of EM as base fertilizer or as a component of base fertilizer,
however, there has been little published concerning using EM as foliage fertilizer, especially
making EM into calcium nutrient solution. In recent years, our team invents a new product
based on EM technology and names it as Active EM-Calcium. Active EM-Calcium is prepared
by special fermentation process with lime and EM, which contains chelating calcium (Ca) and
microorganisms in the solution. In order to verify the effect of Active EM-Calcium on tomato
and flue-cured tobacco production, two researches were carried out from 2012 to 2013.
2. Effects of EM-Calcium on production of greenhouse tomato
2.1. Materials and methods
2.1.1. Test site
The greenhouse experiments were carried out in plastic greenhouse during 2012 at the
Vegetables and Flowers Institute of Nanjing (SW of China, lat. 31°43′ N, long. 118°46' E)
in a well stirred heavy lay loam. The local climate is subtropical monsoon, with average
annual rainfall of 1106.5mm, temperature of 15.7℃ and humidity of 81%. Affected by the
No. 1211 (international numbering) severe tropical storm “HAIKUI”, temperature of
experimental field in early August saw a drop of 10℃-14℃, mixed with heavy winds and
rains, but due to the short continuance, greenhouse crops were little influenced by the
storm. Average temperature during the experiment period was 21.9℃ (May), 25.7℃ (June),
29.8℃ (July), 27.9℃ (August), 22.3℃ (September) respectively, which was 1.0℃, 0.9℃, 1.5℃,
