Effects of Nursery Container Types and Phosphate Fertilization Levels on Early Growth and Quality of Hybrid ‘Zumuruda F₁’ Tomato Seedlings (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, Omar Al Mukhtar University, Libya, to evaluate the effects of container type and phosphate fertilization on the growth and quality of 'Zumuruda F₁' tomato seedlings (Solanum lycopersicum L.). A randomized complete block split-plot design with three replications was employed, where container type (plastic bags, paper bags, and foam trays) as the main factor and phosphate fertilization levels (P₀, P₁, P₂, and P₃) supplemented with adjusted amounts of urea and Potassium sulfate fertilizers as the sub-factor. Measurements included seedling growth traits and fresh biomass. Seeds were sown on April 13 and the experiment continued for 39 days until May 22. The findings revealed that paper and plastic bags promoted greater vegetative growth and biomass accumulation compared with foam trays, with paper bags yielding the highest fresh weight. Foam trays, irrespective of phosphate level, consistently produced the weakest seedlings. Phosphate fertilization markedly enhanced growth, with P₁ (1000 mg P₂O₅ kg⁻¹) and P₃ (3000 mg P₂O₅ kg⁻¹) recording the tallest plants and greatest leaf numbers, while fresh biomass was maximized under P₃ (12.8 g), demonstrating that elevated phosphorus inputs stimulated growth despite non-linear treatment responses.