Growth performance and yield of irrigated tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum (I.) H. Karst) as affected by Nitrogen sources and Organic Mulches in Kadawa-Kano, Nigeria.

Abstract

Two field trials were conducted in the dry season of 2015 - 2016 and 2016 - 2017 at the irrigation research farm of Institute for agricultural Research, Kadawa located in the Sudan Savannah ecological zone of Nigeria to evaluate some growth and yield characteristics of irrigated tomato varieties as affected by nitrogen sources and organic mulches. Treatments consisted of two tomato varieties (UC82B and Rio Grande), two organic mulches (rice straw and sugar cane peel) and a control (No mulch) at a recommended rate of 5 t/ha and 10t/ha, respectively and three nitrogen sources (mineral fertilizer, poultry manure, mixture of mineral fertilizer and poultry manure) at recommendedrate of 90 kgN/ha and a control (No application). Variety and nitrogen sources ere assigned to the main plots while sugarcane peel mulch was assign to the subplots and replicated three times. The result show that the performance (growth) of UC82B was better than Rio-Grande in 2015 - 2016 while the reverse was the case in 2016 - 2017. However, there was no significant difference between the fruit yield of the varieties. Application of all the applied nitrogen sources especially in 2016 - 2017 which were statistically similar enhanced the growth and yield of tomato varieties but the highest fruit yield was achieved with the mixture of mineral fertilizer and poultry manure. The performance of the two applied organic mulches in enhancing growth and the yield of tomato varieties is the same. In conclusion, both varieties could be used in the Sudan Savannah but for higher yield Rio-Grande is recommended. Application of Poultry manure may be recommended as a better source for meeting the nitrogen need of tomato to ensure sustainability in farmers tomato production in the Sudan Savannah ecology. Sugarcane peel mulch is recommended as a good replacement to rice straw mulch. However, for a higher fruit yield, the application of poultry manure in combination with either rice straw mulch or sugarcane peel mulch is recommended.