Study on Effect of Age of Seedlings Transplant on the Performance of Tomato (Lycopersicon escul
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March 201 1,Volume 5,No.3(Serial No.34) Journa/ofAgricultural Science and Technology,[SSN 1 939.1250,USA
…… 稿
Study on Effect of Age of Seedlings Transplant on the Performance of Tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum)in a Southwestern N igeria Location
B.0.Ademiluyi DepartmentofPlantScience,Facul ̄ofScience,UniverMtY ofAdoEkiti,AdoEMti 360001,Nigeria
Received:February 18,2010/Accepted:June 24,2010/Published:March 15,2011
Abstract:Field trials were conducted at the experimental site of the Department of Plant Science of the University of Ado Ekiti. Nigeria during the 2005 and 2006 cropping season to examine the effects of age of transplanting on the performance of tomato
Lycopersicon esculentum L.Establishment count%,plant height stem girth,earliness to flower,and fruit yield were significantly
affectedbytheagesatwhichthe seedlingsweretransplanted.The2 and 3weeksafter sowingtransplantswereidenticalinperformance
andgavethehighestnumberoffieldestablishment count,growthincrease,andyield The4WAStransplantsperformedbetterthanthe
5WAS transplants.It is concluded that a delay in early transplanting oftomato seedlings after4WAS could lead to a very highreduction intomatoyieldinthe study area.
Key words:Tomato,seedlings age transplanting,performance,yield
1.IntrOductiOn Tomato,Lycopersicon esculentum is one of the most important vegetable crops in the world.It ranks second
in importance to potatoes Solanum tuberosum in many countries【l】.Tomato may either be seeded directly into the field or grown from transplants raised from seed under green house conditions【2】.The advantages of raising tomato from nursery transplants have been emphasized【3】.There arc however conflicting reports oN the appropriate age at which tomato seedlings could be transplanted after sowing. While Heywood
recommended a period of up to 6 weeks in the nursery 【4】, .Hugues recommended a nursery period of 5 weeks
【51.It had been reported that tonaatoes to be transplanted should have 2-6 true】eaves al1d Ultlst possess several well developed roots、、 ith firm stenl epidermis f6J.The appropriate age at which these
Corresponding author:t3.0 Ademiluyi,Ph D research
fields:plant physiology and weed science. E—mail:
femnikben@yahoo.cam.
seedlings should be transplanted for optimum yield has not been determined in Ekiti State of Nigeria.The
present stud),therefore aimed at finding the appropriate age for transplanting tomato seedlings to achieve optimum yield in the study area.
2.Materials and Methods Field experiments wcrc camcd out in 2005 and 2006 cropping seasons at the experimental site of the Depamnent of Plant Science Universitv of Ado Ekiti. Ado Ekiti is located on Latitude 7。.40 N and
Longitude 5。,l5 E with abinmdal annual rainfall of about 1450 mm and daily temperature of 27℃.The
soil composition of the site is a sandy clay alfisol with 58%,20%and 22%sand,silt and cla3,respectively 、、’ith a pH of6.5. The site Il as manuall3 cleared and ridged with each plot measuring 6×4 nl。.The experiment was laid out
1D a raudomizcd colnplete block replicated four times. Tomato seeds variety TUC.82B collected from the Study on Effect of Age of Seedlings Transplant on the Performance of Tomato(Lycopersicon 319 esculentum)in a Southwestern Nigeria Location
ministry of Agriculture Ado Ekitl was SOVvTI in nursery pots and later transplanted at 2,3,4 and 5 weeks after sowing(WAS)to make a total of four regimes of transplants.Seedlings wcrc transplanted at a spacing of 40 cm apart on each ridge.Nematieide was applied to the soil before transplanting to avoid nematode affack. At 2 weeks after transplmlting of each transplant, field establishment cotmts were taken to determine the survival rate of transplants at the different ages.At three weeks later(i.e.8WAS),plant height and girth were determined using fl meter rule and veneer caliper respectively.At 9WAS the total numbers of flowered plants per transplant were determined in percentages. Fruit yield in terms ofnumber offruits and weight per plant was determined from 5 randomly selected plants per plot. All data were statistically analyzed and treatment means compared using the Fisher’s least significant difference(LSD).
3.Results The results of the effects of age of transplanting of tomato seedlings on establishment count of tomato plants arc presented in Table 1.The highest establishment counts of 99.2.96.5 and 98.6.96.4% were recorded in the 2 and 3 WAS transplants in 2005 and 2006 respectiveb r.Lower establishment count of 80.3%and 79.7%were recorded for the 4WAS transplants in 2005 and 2006 respectively.The least establishment count of 69.2%and 64.5%in 2005 and 2006 respectix eI、r were recorded in the 5WAS transplants.Table 2 shows the effects of age of transplanting on plant height and stem girth of tomato. Significant higher plant height and stem ginh v ̄crc obser ̄red iD the 2 mad 3 WAS transplants while the least was recorded in the 5WAS transplants 4WAS transplants gax e higher stem girth of l5.5 and 13.6 niIn than l0.5 and 7 7 innl for 5WAS transplants in 2005 mad 2006 respectix el3 . The effect of age of transplanting Oll floxvering percentage at 8WAS is presented in Table 3.84.3%