Effects of different soilless growing media on seedling quality of some solanaceae vegetables

One of the most important things in successful vegetable transplant production is to grow strong and healthy transplants. The role of plant growing media is become important in modulating physiological responses that will eventually lead to producing high quality seedlings. Aim of this thesis study was to evaluate tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L) transplant growth in various soilless growing media. Twelve growing media were formulated using peat moss and coconut pith as the organic components, and perlite, vermiculite, rock wool, and expanded clay aggregates as the inorganic components. To facilitate interpretations, seedling height, stem diameter, number of true leaves, relative leaf chlorophyll content, stem fresh weight, stem dry weight, root fresh weight, and root dry weight of 6-week old transplant grown in different growing media were compared. The results of the study have shown that the use of different growing media significantly affected growth and quality of tomato and pepper transplants. The best mixture consisted of peat and vermiculite (1:1; v/v). Keywords: Tomato, pepper, growing media, transplant production, soilless