Effect of plant spacing and inorganic fertilizer rate on tomato seed production
View/ Open
Date
2017Author
Nganga, Geoffrey Muchoki
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum ) is rated as high market value horticultural crop in Kenya with
a ready market both domestically and regionally. Moreover, tomato is among horticultural crops
with great potential for improving food security and income generation among rural and urban
resource poor community. Tomato seed production is becoming a major source of income for
small scale farmers in Kenya. However, its productivity is low due to several factors such as,
lack of use of fertilizers, poor plant stand, use of unimproved cultivars and pest and disease
infestation. Nutrient management and maintenance of optimum number of plants per unit area
are considered as important management tools for enhancing tomato seed production. Therefore
this study was conducted to identify the optimum level of NPK (17:17:17) fertilizer and plant
population that promote seed production in tomato. Field experiments using tomato cultivar
Riogrande VF were conducted in October, 2015 and March, 2016 cropping seasons. The
treatments consisted of three spacing; 60 cm×25 cm, 60 cm×45 cm and 60 cm×60 cm and four
levels of NPK (17:17:17) fertilizers applied at : 0 kgha-1, 200 kgha-1, 300 kgha-1 and 400 kgha-1.
The experimental design was complete randomized block design fitted with a split plot
arrangements. The main plots were plant spacing and the subplots were fertilizer levels. Data
were collected on plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, number of fruits per
cluster, number of seeds per fruit, weight of 1000 seeds and seed yield per hectare. The results
revealed that combination of plant spacing and NPK (17:17:17) application significantly
(P≤0.05) influenced growth and seed yield of tomato. A combination of 60 cm×60 cm spacing
with 400 kgha-1 NPK (17:17:17) fertilizer resulted in the highest number of leaves (55 per plant),
number of branches (13 per plant), weight of seeds per fruit (9.3 g ) and seed yield per hectare
(86.3 Kgha-1). This was followed by a combination of 60 cm×60 cm spacing supplied with 300
kg ha-1 NPK (17:17:17), and 60 cm×45 cm sp acing supplied with 400 kgha-1 NPK (17:17:17).
A combination of 60cm×25cm spacing and 400 kgha-1 NPK (17:17:17) fertilizer resulted in the
tallest plants with low seed yield compared to all other treatments. Therefore in order to realize
high seed yield in tomato, a spacing of 60 cm × 60 cm with application of 400 kg ha-1 NPK
(17:17:17) fertilizer should be adopted. A closer spacing of 60cm× 25cm results in taller plant
that could be a disadvantage in seed production due to the possibility of lodging. In addition, this
spacing resulted in the use of high quantity of seeds at planting that eventually produce low seed
yield per unit area, hence increasing the cost of production.
Citation
Master of science in agronomyPublisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: