Influence of zeolites of different fractions on the yield and quality of tomatoes in the Northern Transural region

The results of studies on the influence of zeolites of different fractions on the yield and quality of the Siberian early-ripening tomato fruits are presented. The subject of the survey is crushed zeolite from the Transcarpathian zeolite plant. It was revealed that the fractional composition of zeolites affects the timing of phenological phases in tomatoes. When planted in open ground on June 10, the age of the seedlings was 55 days. The time from planting to the beginning of flowering, on average over two years, was the shortest in the variant using zeolite fraction 1 mm (24 days) and the longest in the control (33 days). The first tomato harvest was done using a 1 mm fraction of zeolite on the 46th planting day. On average, mass harvest in variants with the addition of different types of zeolites occurred faster by seven days compared to the control. Standardity in all variants, including the control, was at a high level and ranged from 97.9 in the control to 98.9% in the variant, with the addition of zeolite fraction 1.5 mm during the period of mass fruiting and from 84.9 in the control to 98.0 % in the variant with the addition of zeolite fraction 1.5 mm when calculating the total yield. It has been proven that using zeolite substrates of the 1–1.5 mm fraction as a component for growing tomato plants in open ground on leached chernozem of the Northern Trans-Urals is an effective method. When zeolites of fractions 1 and 1.5 mm were included in the soil, the yield increased compared to the control by 3.5 and 3.9 kg per 1 m2, respectively. The average fruit weight was within the general requirements for the standard for this variety. However, within the variants, it ranged from 84 g in control to 141.5 g in the variant, adding a zeolite fraction of 1.5 mm. The addition of zeolite, especially the more significant fraction, smoothed out the lack of moisture, especially in 2021. In the variants with the addition of zeolites, the fruits were more important than the control by more than 1.5 times. There is a clear trend towards an increase in the dry matter content, including the number of sugars, in fruits and a decrease in the nitrate content.