Abstract

The quality of seedlings is heavily dependent on the substrate in which they grow and develop. To investigate the impact of different substrates on tomato seed germination and seedling growth, an experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design with 19 treatments and three replications in both greenhouse and screen house settings. The results revealed that the following substrates performed well in terms of tomato seedling emergence (above 70%) at 10 days after sowing in the screen house: rice husks, burnt sawdust, a mixture of sawdust and rice husks, soil, a mixture of soil and rice husks, a mixture of soil and sawdust, and a mixture of soil, burnt sawdust, and burnt rice husks. In contrast, burnt rice husks alone achieved over 70% seedling germination at 14 days after sowing in the greenhouse. The maximum seedling height, stem diameter, number of leaves, and fresh and dry weights of leaves, roots, and stems were observed in tomato seedlings grown in a mixture of soil and burnt rice husks. This study demonstrates that temperature significantly affects the germination start day, average germination speed, and vigor. Seedlings raised in the screen house exhibited improved germination compared to those raised in the greenhouse. However, seedlings grown in the greenhouse showed more vigorous growth than those grown in the screen house.

Key words: Tomato, substrate, rice husks, sawdust, burnt, germination, seedling, morphological.