150 D. C. M. Gowda*, H. B. Lingaish, V. Nachegowda, S. A. Kumar University of Horticultural Science, Bagalkot, Karnataka, India e-mail : demgowda dvgr. res. in *Correspondence Present address: Scientist, DOGR, Rajguru nagar, Pune 410505, India. Environment & Ecology 34 (1) : 150—154, January—March 2016 Website: environmentandecology.com ISSN 0970-0420 Effect of Specialty Fertilizers on Quality, Yield and Economics of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) Production D. C. Manjunatha Gowda, H. B. Lingaiah, V. Nachegowda, S. Anil Kumar Received 26 December 2014; Accepted 24 February 2015; Published online 21 March 2015 Abstract The soil application of specialty fertilizers (SPs) significantly influenced the yield and quality attributes of tomato like maximum fruits diameter and maximum pericarp thickness, the least number of loc- ules and maximum total soluble solids (TSS), early initiation of flowering (days to 50% flowering and 100% flowering), maximum number of clusters per plant, maximum number of fruits per plant, maximum fruits yield per plot and estimated fruit yield per hect- are were recorded by the application of specialty fer- tilizer OSV-5 containing 60 kg ha -1 silicon (Si) with 60 kg ha -1 organic carbon (OC) and OSV-4 containing 75 kg ha -1 Si with 60 kg ha -1 OC along with recom- mended dose of fertilizers 250 kg ha -1 cach N P K and 25 t ha -1 of farm yard manure (FYM). Keywords Specialty fertilizers, Silicon, Organic car- bon, OSV-5, OSV-4. Introduction Tomato (Solamm lycopersicum L.) belongs to family solanaceae; tomato is universally treated as protec- tive food. Tomato represents an essential part of hu- man diet, it is a good nutritional resource rich in vita- min C and antioxidants mainly lycopene, carotene, organic acids and phenols. Consumption of beta-caro- tene and lycopene has been known to lower the inci- dence of cardio-vascular disease and prostate, gastro- intestinal and epithelial cell cancer [1, 2]. Organic ac- ids can influence its shelf life [3]. Tomato is most im- portant and remunerative vegetable crop in India with good source of income for small and marginal farm- ers. In India tomato is grown in an area of 0.87 m ha with a production of 16.83 m t and the productivity being 19.50 t ha -1 [4]. Specialty fertilizers are fully water soluble, crop specific and solid fertilizers containing primary, secondary, micro nutrients and also benefi- cial elements with low salt index. SPs are made with well balanced nutrients proportions, which meet the exact nutrients required by the plants. SPs are succesfully used in vegetable crops with well devel- oped root system, soil application of SPs effect on rapid improvement of plant nutrition. They are known to increase the uptake of nutrients from the soil, ap- plied fertilizers input by avoiding losses through leach- ing and runoff [5]. To achieve better crop productivity, the specialty fertilizers considered to be a source of agrochemicals after plant growth regulators, pesticides and herbi-