Growth and Fruit Yield of Tomato (<I>Solanum lycopersicum L.</I>) under Different Levels of Phosphorus Fertilization

Abstract

Having substantial and working knowledge on phosphorus fertilization is a pre-requisite to profitable tomato production. Thus, the present research was conducted to determine the optimum phosphorus (P) fertilizer rate for better fruit yield of tomato in Ilorin, a location in the Southern Guinea savannah zone of Nigeria. Five levels of phosphorus (0, 30, 60, 90 and120kgP/ha) were tested on UC82B tomato variety. The experiment was
laid out in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Data were collected on plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and number of branches at different growth stages while data on fruit yield as well as its components were collected at harvest. Results showed that application of 30kgP/ha produced plants with the highest leaf area. The control and 30kgP/ha produced the highest number of leaves. Application of 90kgP/ha and 120kgP/ha resulted in production of highest number of fruits while application of 90kgP/ha alone resulted in production of the tallest plants, highest number of branches and highest fruit yield. The yield was 66% better than the control. It was, therefore, concluded that 90kgP/ha should be used for optimum tomato fruit production in the agro-ecological zone of the research and places with the same climatic and edaphic conditions.

Keywords: Phosphorus fertilization, tomato, growth improvement and fruit yield