EFFECT OF VARIETY AND SPACING ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO

Abstract

A field experiment on tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) was conducted at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka, Bangladesh during October, 2015 to April 2016 to find out the suitable varieties and spacing for higher yield of the crop. Ten treatment combinations consisting of five tomato varieties, namely Soysan, Unnayan, Minto hybrid, Ratan, Holand and two spacing viz., 50 cm × 40 cm and 60 cm × 40 cm were tested in Randomized complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The variety Minto hybrid exhibited the maximum plant height, leaves plant-1, primary and secondary branches plant-1, flower cluster-1, fruit plant-1, fruits cluster-1, fruit length, fruit breath and individual fruit weight. The highest fruit yield (34.30 t ha-1) was obtained from Minto hybrid followed by Ratan (17.72 t ha-1). Different parameters studied were not significantly influenced by two spacing. However, the wider spacing 60 cm × 40 cm gave the maximum fruit yield (39.92 t ha-1). The Minto hybrid coupled with 60 cm × 40 cm spacing gave maximum values in all growth parameters and yield attributes, and thus provided the highest fruit yield (70.26 t ha-1). The second highest fruit yield (66.96 t ha-1) was recorded from Minto hybrid coupled with 50 cm × 40 cm.