The trial carried out in the Foggia area assessed the efficacy of Radicon® on processing tomato cv. Taylor, comparing different application strategies with a farm standard and a competitor product. The Fertek protocol, based on the use of humic acids from vermicompost, demonstrated superior results in terms of both productivity and quality.
The treatments with Radicon® showed a more developed root system: the fine root system was able to explore a larger surface area of soil than in the untreated control and the competitor. The best-performing results were obtained with treatment 3, characterised by the rationalised application of Radicon® from transplanting up to fruit set, which recorded a marketable yield of 1,462.5 q/ha, with a production of 4.85 kg of red fruit per plant and an average fruit weight of 70 grams.
NDVI analyses confirmed better vegetative vigour in the plants treated with Radicon®, while the harvest assessments showed a lower incidence of blossom-end rot and other rots compared with the competitor treatment. The rationalised use of the product, from transplanting up to fruit set, is confirmed as the winning strategy for optimising the yield and quality of processing tomato in conditions of soil fatigue.
