EFFECT OF TRANSPLANT AGE ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TWO VARIETIES OF TOMATO (Lycopersicon esculentum L.)

ABSTRACT

This field study was carried out to evaluate the effect of transplant age on the growth and yield of two tomato varieties, Roma VF and UC 82B; at the Teaching and Research farm of the Department of Crop Science, University of Benin. The experiment was a 2 x 3 factorial experiment with 3 replications arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Six treatments of two varieties of tomato (Roma VF and UC 82B) and three transplant age (2, 3 and 4) weeks after transplanting were used. Data were collected on plant height (cm), number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area and stem diameter. Growth and yield data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the least significant difference (LSD) at 5% level was used to compare the means. Results showed that the effect of variety was not significant on plant height; however, transplanting age was significant on plant height. Seedlings transplanted at 2 and 4 weeks significantly increased plant height (10.14cm and 13.83cm) respectively above those plants that were sowed at 3 weeks (5.75cm). Although the variety showed no significant difference in all the vegetative characters measured, 4 WAT significantly enhanced most of the vegetative parameters measured above other transplant age. It was concluded that transplant at 4 weeks of age should be adopted for better performance of tomato in University of Benin environment.