Response of the Growth and Yield of Cherry Tomato to Growing Medium Type and Foliar Application of K.P.N Fertilizer under Unheated Greenhouse Conditions.

• Khalid Nadhim Ali1 and Aqeel Kareem Hasan Al-Tufaili2*

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The experiment was conducted at the Research Station of the College of Agriculture, University of Kufa, Najaf Al-Ashraf Governorate, during the 2025 growing season to investigate the effect of the type of growing medium, which included four growing media: sand (control treatment) (C1), a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (1:1) (C2), a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (2:1) (C3), and a mixture of Peat moss and Perlite (1:2) (C4), and foliar application of NPK fertilizer at concentrations of 0, 3, and 4 g L⁻¹ on the yield and the chemical and qualitative characteristics of cherry tomato plants. The experiment was conducted as a Split Plot Design according to a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The growing media were assigned to the main plots, whereas the NPK fertilizer concentrations were assigned to the sub-plots. Treatment means were compared using the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test at the 0.05 probability level. The results showed that treatment C2 was significantly superior to all other treatments in early yield per unit area. Treatment C3

 was superior to all other treatments in fruit vitamin C content and was also significantly superior in leaf nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents, as well as shoot dry weight. No significant differences were observed among the growing media treatments in fruit anthocyanin content. Regarding the effect of foliar application of NPK fertilizer, no significant differences were found among fertilizer concentrations in fruit anthocyanin content. However, the 3 and 4 g L⁻¹ concentrations were significantly superior to the control treatment in early yield per unit area (24.15 Mg ha⁻¹). The 4 g L⁻¹ concentration was superior to the other two concentrations in fruit vitamin C content and leaf phosphorus content, whereas the 3 g L⁻¹ concentration was superior in leaf nitrogen content and shoot dry weight. No significant differences were observed among fertilizer concentrations in leaf potassium content. The interaction between the two study factors showed a significant superiority in all studied traits except fruit anthocyanin content.

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