EFFECT OF HYBRID VARIETY AND INTRA-ROW SPACING ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) AT ARBA MINCH ZURIA DISTRICT, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tomato is a food security and cash crop in Ethiopia due to its high yield potential, nutritional quality, short growing period and wider adaptability. However, its productivity is very low mainly due to shortage of improved varieties and management practices. To overcome the challenges, very limited research effort has been done in Arba Minch Zuria district. Therefore, this experiment was conducted in Arba Minch Zuria district in the year 2017/18 cropping season with an objective to investigate the effect of intra-row spacing and varieties on growth, yield and quality of tomato. Three hybrid varieties (Eden, Galilea and Shanty-pm) were planted under three intra-rows spacing (20 cm, 30 cm and 40 cm). The experiment was laid out by using factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD). Data on growth, yield and quality variables were collected and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SAS version 9.1.3 software. Result revealed main effect of varieties significantly affected days to first flowering, days to first fruiting, days to maturity, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, plant height, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, marketable fruit yield ha-1, un marketable fruit yield ha-1, total fruit yield ha-1, fruit length, fruit diameter, total soluble solids, titratable acidity and pH. Similarly, the main effect of intra-row spacing was significant for all traits except for titratable acidity and pH. The highest marketable fruit yield (67.63t ha-1), total fruit yield (70.26t ha-1), dry matter content (5.08%) was recorded from Eden variety while the lowest marketable fruit yield (51.43 t ha-1), un marketable yield (1.52t ha-1) and total fruit yield (52.84 t ha-1) was recorded from Shanty-pm variety. Number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit dry matter content, TSS content showed significant reduction with increased number of plants per unit area, highest marketable fruit yield (61.21t ha-1) and lowest unmarketable fruit yield (1.46t ha-1) recorded from 30 cm intra-row spacing. In conclusion, the present findings indicated that the production and productivity of tomato in the study area can be improved by using Eden variety with 30 cm intra-row spacing. However, further study needed over location, season and other management practices to come up with wider recommendations