Influence of staking methods on growth, yield and yield related traits of tomato (lycopersicon esculentum mill.) Varieties in debre markos district, north western Ethiopia.

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the most cultivated vegetable crops in Ethiopia. However, the production and productivity of the crop is low due to a lack of improved varieties and improper agronomic practices including staking. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of stalking on growth, fruit yield and associated characteristics of the tomato varieties and to estimate the economic efficiency of using different staking methods for different tomato varieties. The study was conducted in Debre Markos University, College of Agriculture and Natural Resource research demonstration site under irrigation condition in 2021/22. The experiment consisted of four tomato varieties, (namely Cochero, Eshet, Metadel, and Miya) with three staking methods (single-string staking, Florida weave string staking, and non-staking methods). A 4X3 Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications was employed in a factorial arrangement. Data were collected on growth, yield, and quality parameters and analyzed using SAS 9.2 software, and means were separated by using LSD at 5% probability level. Results revealed that the interaction effect of variety and methods of staking had a highly significant (p<0.01) effect on total fruit yield per hectare; marketable fruit yield per hectare and; unmarketable fruit yield per hectare. The main effects of variety and methods of staking significantly influenced most of the studied tomato parameters (number of primary branches; days to fruit maturity and; number of flowers per cluster). Based on the present study the highest marketable fruit yield was recorded from treatment combinations of Metadel variety with single string staking (112.09 tha-1). With regard to the economic analysis the maximum net profit was recorded from treatment combinations of Metadel with single string with a MRR (marginal rate of return) of 739.