The tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops grown in the South African community. Most hydroponic tomato growers in South Africa are using sawdust as a growing medium due to its availability and affordability. However, there is little or no information on how particle sizes of sawdust influence tomato yield and quality. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the particle size of sawdust on plant growth, yield and quality of tomato. Six treatments of different particle sizes of sawdust i.e. fine (F), medium (M), coarse (C) and 50:50 ratio of F: M, C: M, and C: F extracted from pine tree were used for the experiment. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. The size of the sawdust particles did not have a significant effect on plant height, stem diameter, leaf length and width, shelf-life, marketable yield, total yield and unmarketable yield. A tendency to increase marketable and total yield was observed when tomato plants were grown at a 50:50 C: F ratio. Fruit and leaf mineral content were not affected by sawdust particle size. After completion of the experiment, air- filled porosity was significantly high on particle size C, M, and C: M while the water holding capacity was significantly high on F followed by M. The study showed that the suitable growth medium for production of tomatoes under the hydroponics system used was the CF particle substrate. Generally, the experimental crop performed better under the CF particle substrate in terms of growth parameters, and fruit quality, thus leading to the conclusion that the CF growth medium is ideal for hydroponically grown tomato under a non-environmentally controlled polytunne / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

As determinações, em níveis de traços, de fármacos em fluidos biológicos e de multirresíduos (contaminantes) em amostras alimentícias são de extrema importância, pois geram valiosos dados para fins, respectivamente, de monitorização terapêutica (individualização do regime de dosagem) e controle de qualidade (segurança alimentar). A demanda por métodos analíticos de alta resolução e com baixos limites de quantificação, para análises de amostras complexas, tem impulsionado a química analítica para o desenvolvimento de soluções inovadoras, destacando-se aquelas voltadas ao desenvolvimento ou avaliação de novos sistemas analíticos. Neste contexto, na primeira etapa desta tese, o sistema automatizado de microextração em fase sólida no capilar de polipirrol (in-tube PPY SPME) acoplado à cromatografia líquida com detecção fluorimétrica foi desenvolvido (lab-made) para a determinação enantiosseletiva de fluoxetina e de seu metabólito norfluoxetina em amostras de plasma, para fins de monitorização terapêutica. Na segunda etapa, o método cromatografia gasosa bidimensional abrangente acoplada à espectrometria de massas com analisador quadrupolo (GC x GC / qMS) foi padronizado e validado para análise de multirresíduos de agrotóxicos em tomates frescos, para fins de controle de qualidade. Dentre os resultados obtidos podemos destacar: na primeira etapa o ganho de seletividade da fase extratora de polipirrol, em sistema miniaturizado e automatizado de preparo de amostra, hifenado à separação cromatográfica (LC) com detecção fluorimétrica; e na segunda etapa, o incremento da resolução cromatográfica e detectabilidade do sistema de cromatografia gasosa bidimensional com detecção espectrométrica com analisador quadrupolo. As análises de amostras de plasma de pacientes em terapia com fluoxetina e de amostras de tomates comerciais comprovaram a aplicabilidade dos métodos propostos, padronizados e validados, em níveis de concentrações que incluem o intervalo terapêutico preconizado para a fluoxetina em plasma e os limites máximos de resíduos de agrotóxicos estabelecidos para a cultura de tomate. / Determination of trace levels of drugs in biological fluids and multiresidue (contaminants) in food samples is extremely important because this generates valuable data for therapeutic drug monitoring (individualization of dosage regimen) and quality control (food safety), respectively. Because of the demand for analytical methods with high resolution and low limits of quantification for analysis of complex samples, analytical chemistry has stimulated the development of innovative approaches, especially those aimed at developing or evaluating new analytical systems. In this context, in the first stage of this thesis the automated solid-phase microextraction capillary polypyrrole (in-tube \"PPY SPME) coupled to liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection was developed (lab-made) for enantioselective determination of fluoxetine and its metabolite norfluoxetine in plasma samples for therapeutic drug monitoring. In the second stage of this work, the GC x GC / qMS method was developed for multiresidues analysis of pesticides in fresh tomatoes for the purpose of quality control. In the first stage of the research the gain in terms of the selectivity of the polypyrrole extraction phase in hyphenated and automated system for sample preparation and chromatographic separation (LC) with fluorimetric detection is worthy of note. As for the second step, the highlight is the improvement in chromatographic resolution as well as in the detectability system of the system consisting of two-dimensional gas chromatography and spectrometric detection with quadrupole analyzer. Analyses of plasma samples from patients undergoing therapy with fluoxetine and of samples of commercially available tomatoes proved the applicability of the proposed methods, which were optimized and validated at concentrations levels that include the therapeutic range for the analyzed drugs in plasma and the maximum residue limits of pesticides for growing tomatoes.

Effective microorganisms (EM), a commercial concoction of microbes that includes yeasts, fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes, have been found to be effective in enhancing crop growth by a number of scholars. It is registered in South Africa, but it had not been thoroughly investigated. The present study investigated the effects of EM on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill), butternut (Curcurbita moschata) and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris), along with selected soil properties. In field-grown tomato it was observed that the application of EM caused a significant increase in the number of fruits at seven weeks after transplanting. However, plants treated with EM alone, or EM in combination with other amendments, subsequently produced lower yields owing to an outbreak of early and late blights which affected them the most severely. Combined applications of EM with organic amendments improved plant N content and increased soil N content above initial levels. The application of compost resulted in soil N and P concentrations higher than those of the control presumably due to nutrients being slowly released from the compost material. In a follow up greenhouse trial EM application had a negative effect on tomato leaf dry matter yield, number of leaves, number of trusses, fruit yield and number of fruits. The negative effects of EM were ascribed to N immobilization by the EM that could have resulted in reduced N availability to plants. The lower number of fruits associated with EM application resulted in improved average fruit weight of tomatoes grown in the greenhouse, possibly as a result of more assimilates being partitioned to the few fruits EM application also had a negative effect on field grown butternut as reflected by lower total yield, lower marketable yield and lower first grade yield. The results were attributed to immobilization of N induced by application of EM, and to the inability of EM to control pumpkin fly that attacked very young fruit, resulting in their failure to develop or resulting in the down grading of mature fruits. The application of EM alone had a positive but non significant effect on the yields of both the first and second harvests of Swiss chard. However, when applied with compost or goat manure, a non significant negative effect on yield was observed. When applied with inorganic fertilizer, EM had no effect on yield but tended to increase the uptake of nitrogen by Swiss chard. Though goat manure had a narrower C: N ratio than compost, it did not result in greater EM effectiveness as had been hoped. However, goat manure had a more positive effect on soil properties than compost. It increased the N, P, and K contents of the soil and resulted in a narrower C: N ratio of the soil compared to compost. Generally, the results of the four trials conducted with three different crops indicated that EM had inconsistent effects on crop performance.

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