The 2009 ASHS Annual Conference

The addition of vermicomposts to soils improves soil structure, enhances the microbial population and activity, increases water retention capacity, and in some cases, reduces crop susceptibility to plant pathogens. Vermicompost materials are becoming increasingly popular as a soil amendment due to the developing interest in sustainable production methods.  Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of vermicompost additions at 0, 4.0, 8.1, 16.2, 32.4, and 65.0 Mg•ha^-1 on various growth parameters (leaf area index, chlorophyll content, and marketable and cull fruit yield) of ‘Mountain Fresh Plus’ tomato.  Leaf area index and plant height both increased in a quadratic manner with increased additions of vermicompost; and, plant heights increased up to approximately 32 Mg•ha^-1 vermicompost.  The increase in marketable and total tomato yield (number and weight•ha^-1) typically began around 16 Mg•ha^-1 vermicompost, with linear and quadratic models, respectively, best describing the relationships.  Our results indicate that vermicompost additions to soil can improve both tomato vegetative growth and yield parameters in a minimal input production system.