Response of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum): Growth and Yield, to Rates of Mineral and Poultry Manure Application in the Guinea Savanna Agro-ecological Zone in Nigeria

Abstract

The study was designed to evaluate the impact of different levels of poultry manures (PM) on the growth and yield of tomato in comparison to mineral fertilizer (MF) and the combine treatment of PM + MF. The combined analysis revealed that application of poultry manure at 150 kg N/ha gave the tallest plant height, but not significantly different from application of manure at 300 kg N/ha. These were however, significantly different from the inorganic fertilizer treatment; an indication that tomato responded better to poultry manure than mineral fertilizer, in respect of plant height. Application of inorganic fertilizer at the rate of 300 kg N/ha gave significantly taller crop than 150 kg N/ha. The shortest plant heights were observed in the control treatment in both cropping seasons as well as in the combined result. Application of organic and inorganic fertilizers significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced total number of harvested tomato and weight of harvest. Application of 150 kg PM/ha + 150 kg MF/ha gave the best yield, which was significantly different from other rates investigated, followed by 75 kg PM/ha + 75 kg MF/ha. While increasing poultry manure rate from 150 kg N/ha to 300 kg N/ha led to an increase in total number of harvested tomato and tomato yield / ha, increasing mineral fertilizer rate from 150 kg N/ha to 300 kg N/ha actually depressed tomato yield and number of tomato harvested per plot. Finally, application of inorganic nutrient at the rate of 150 kg N/ha yielded 88.15% return over the control, while applying 300 kg N/ha inorganic nutrient yielded only 74.68% return over the control. Application of organic nutrient at the rate of 150 and 300 kg N/ha yielded 81.93 and 85.98 percent returns, respectively over the control treatment. The highest return, however, was obtained with the application of 150 kg PM/ha + 150 kg MF/ha (90.17%) over the control, which was followed by application of 75 kg PM/ha + 75 kg MF/ha (89.42%) over the control. Based on the research outcome, it is recommended that if tomato is to be grown on inorganic fertilizer, application of N at the rate of 150 kg/ha is appropriate, while application of organic fertilizer at the rate of 300 kg N/ha is recommended. However, combine application of 150 kg PM/ha + 150 kg MF/ha is recommended for optimum tomato yield.

Keywords: Height, plant gilt, growth, development, yield and economics