ABSTRACT
A field experiment was carried out at the Teaching and
Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City to
investigate the effect of different levels of poultry manure on the growth and
yield of two varieties of tomatoes. The experiment was laid out in a randomized
complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatment composed of
four levels of poultry manure (0, 5, 10 and 15 tha-1) and two varieties of
tomato (UC82-B and Roma VF). Each replicate had 8 plots for a total of 24
plots. The parameters measured were plant height, leaf area, number of leaves,
number of branches, days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, number of
flowers, number of fruit, fruit diameter, fruit length, fruit fresh weight,
fruit dry weight, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight. The result of this
study indicated that poultry manure significantly affected all the parameters
measured except plant height. All the parameter measured were increased in Roma
VF than in UC82-B except the number of flowers, days to first flowering, fruit
length, fruit diameter, shoot fresh weight, fruit dry weight and shoot dry
weight where the two varieties were similar. Application of 5 and 10 tha-1
poultry manure were similar and significantly increased fruit fresh weight
above the control and 15 tha-1. However, the highest yield was obtained from 5
tha-1 poultry manure with either Roman VF or UC82B which were significantly at
par.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) belong to the family
of solanaceae. It is one of the most important vegetable in Nigeria and in many
parts of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. According to
Hussaini et al., (2000) the crop rank first in importance among vegetables in
Nigeria. It is grown mainly for its fruits, which is used almost daily in every
home.
Tomato is an annual herbaceous plant which takes about 75 –
85 days to attain maturity. The plant may reach a height of 2m depending on the
variety. The leaves are large, greenish, deeply cleft, with many leaflets. The
leaves are arranged alternatively along the stems. The flowers are pinkish to
yellow in contour, borne in clusters of four to six flowers sometimes more,
formed on the stems between the leaves. Tomatoes fruits exist in many shapes
appearing large and round, oval or elongated, depending on the variety. The
fruits may be orange, yellow or red when ripe, usually with numerous kidney or
peer shaped, hairy, light brown seeds (Tindall, 1993).
Tomato is a warm season plant that requires temperature of
about 20-270c for most cultivars. Excessive rainfall and high relative humidity
can be harmful to it. A deep loamy soil well drained rich in organic material
with a pH of 6.2 – 6.8 for optimum growth and development. It is a nutritious
vegetable with increasing demand in Nigeria. As documented by United States
Dietary Allowance (2008) tomato fruit provide 95% water of its edible portion
and the remaining 5% compose of miscellaneous compound among which include
carotenoids, ascorbic acids, alcohol, insoluble solids (proteins) cellulose,
pectins, polysaccharides and inorganic compound which give the fruit its
characteristic flavor and aroma. In addition, Micheal (2006) revealed that
tomatoes are among the food plants to which moderate level of anti cancer
activities is associated. It also contains Vitamin A which is a remedy for
night blindness.
Tomato originated in South America, but its cultivation has
today spread to nearly all parts of the world. But however, it was introduced
to West Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century. The world’s cultivation
of tomato is put to about 4 million hectares of which 63,482 hectares are
estimated to be cultivated. In Nigeria, FAO (2010) reported an estimated annual
production of 1.7 million tones. But however, this was still far below demand
as there was an increasing demand from human consumption.
However, most of the deficits were offset by importation.
Although, despite a drive towards increased tomatoes production in Nigeria, an
optimum production has not been realized by the framers to meet its demand
among consumers.
Generally, tomato production in Nigeria has been low because
of low yields obtained by small scale farmers resulting from the use of
unimproved local varieties with low yielding capacity which often grown in
mixtures and this may prevent exploitation of crop productive capacity,
environmental hazards such as drought and incidence of pest and diseases, plant
population including soil fertility decline and a host of other factors have
also kept tomato yield output relatively low (Adekiya and Ojeniyi, 2002).
The use of inorganic fertilizers alone has not been helpful
under intensive Agriculture because it aggregates soil degradation (Sharma and
Mittra, 1991). The degradation is brought about by loss of organic matter which
consequently results in soil acidity and low crop yields (Ojeniyi, 2000). The
quantity of soil organic matter depends on the quality of organic material
which can be introduced into the soil either by natural returns through roots,
stubbles, sloughed-off root nodules and root exudates or by artificial
application in the form of organic fertilizer such as poultry manures. (Agboola
and Omueti, 1982). Poultry manure is an important means of maintaining soil fertility
status. It is cheap, readily available and more environmentally friendly.
Nutrients contained in organic manures are released more slowly and are
retained for a longer time in the soil, thereby ensuring long residual effect
(Sharma and Mittra, 1991). Inorganic fertilizer on the other hand have high
concentration of nutrients and readily available to crops but its use is
hampered by its inaccessibility to majority of the farmers due to high cost in
developing countries including Nigeria (Webber et al., 1999).
The application of poultry manure was reported Ewulo et al.,
(2008) to significantly affect tomato plant height, number of branches, root
length, number and weight of fruits of tomatoes.
In recognition of the increasing economic importance of tomatoes,
intensifying production through the use of improved varieties and organic
manure has become imperative.
Most of the varieties available to farmers are local and low
yielding, generally sown in mixture with other vegetables or cereals.
Therefore, the performance and yield potentials of high yielding varieties such
as Roma VF and UC 82B released by NIHORT need to be evaluated to replace the
low yielding local varieties currently in use by farmers.
Objective
The present study was conducted to determine the optimum
poultry manure rate for these two varieties of tomatoes in rainforest zone of
Nigeria.