A Multifaceted Approach to Optimizing Processing Tomatoes Production: Investigating the Combined Effects of Biostimulants and Reduced Nitrogen Fertilization

The excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizers usage in agriculture has prompted the exploration of sustainable strategies to enhance nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) while maintaining crop yield and quality. This two-year (2023 and 2024) open-field experiments assessed the effects of three biostimulants, i.e., seaweed extract (BIOS1), protein hydrolysates (BIOS2), and endophytic N-fixing bacteria (BIOS3), under three N fertiliza-tion regimes, i.e., no nitrogen (N0), optimal (STD) and reduced (RED: 30% reduced than optimal) on processing tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) morphological, physiological, biochemical, anatomical and yield performances. Nitrogen application significantly influenced biomass accumulation, leaf area index (LAI), nitrogen uptake and yield with notable comparable results with reduced nitrogen rates to the optimal dose, indicating improved nitrogen use efficiency. Biostimulants alone had limited effects but showed synergistic benefits under reduced N conditions by enhancing chlorophyll content, crop growth, N-uptake and yield. Moreover, biostimulants application enhanced tomato growth more evidently in 2023 than 2024 due to environmental variations, likely due to the occurrence of stress conditions, with a prominent increment in dry matter accumulation and N uptake. Importantly, biostimulants together with N regimes i.e., STD and RED showed improved anatomical traits specially for Leaf thickness and thickness between the two epidermises, indicating adaptive responses that may support sustained productivity under N-limited conditions. Among biostimulants BIOS2 and BIOS3 responded better than BIOS1 by processing tomatoes. These findings suggest that although biostimulants alone were not affected but integrating them with reduced N fertilization provides a viable strategy for optimizing tomato production, conserving resources and minimizing environmental impact without compromising yield or quality