EFEITO DO USO DE FERRAMENTAS BIOLÓGICAS NA CONDUÇÃO DA CULTURA DO TOMATEIRO PARA PROCESSAMENTO INDUSTRIAL

Abstract

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) belongs to the Solanaceae family and is one of the most popular vegetable crops in the world. It is widely used due to its culinary versatility and nutritional value, as it contains several compounds beneficial to the maintenance of the human body. Tomato cultivation has great socioeconomic importance for the country. Therefore, studies of means that can provide greater sustainability to production systems, such as the use of biological inputs, including the application of microorganisms that promote plant growth, can be a viable alternative. One option is inoculation with bacteria that can benefit plants in different ways, such as nitrogen fixation, hormone synthesis, phosphorus solubilization, among others. In this context, the objective of the work was to evaluate the contribution of biological products in commercial tomato crops destined for industrial processing in the State of Goiás. In this study, experiments were conducted in commercial production areas of the agro-industries Conservas Olé (Morrinhos), Dez Alimentos Ltda. (Morrinhos) and Kraft Heinz Alimentos do Brasil Ltda. (Pontalina and Silvânia), products based on Bacillus subtilis (Rizos®), Bacillus methylotrophicus (Onix®), Trichoderma asperellum (Quality®) and Azospirillum brasilense (Azos®) were used, applied at different stages of the tomato cultivation cycle. In general, the treatment with biologicals resulted in greater initial development of the roots and aerial part of the plants, enhancing plant healt and maintenance of the leaves at the time of harvest with the use combination of biological products. An average of 12% increase in productivity was observed due to the use of biologicals in the present study. KEYWORDS: Biologicals, Sustainability, Productivid