Effectiveness of fertilizer products on the yield of a determinate tomato variety
Abstract
Tomato is major world leading vegetable as it serves as a major source of Vitamins and other major nutrients to the body. The low tomato production or yield in Uganda is mainly attributed to biotic and abiotic factors. Abiotic factors, notably agronomic in nature, while biotic being pests and diseases. The field experiment was conducted at MUARIK in Wakiso district to investigate the effectiveness of the different fertilizer formulations (agronomic) on a determinate variety of tomato. Seven treatments were setup, all applied at different rates. The rates were as follows, starter-180g/20L, masaka-100ml/20L, bio-grow-100ml/20L, bio-power-100ml/20L, booster-80ml/20L and NPK-100g/plot. The experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design composed of three replications. Data was recorded on plant height, number of leaves, number of fruits, and weight of fruits. GenStat 14th edition was used as the analysis to determine the level of significance of the studied traits using ANOVA. The results showed no significant difference on plant height, number of leaves and weight of fruits among the various treatments applied. But instead, it showed a significant difference on yield among treatments applied, concluding Masaka to be the best treatment in terms of yield performance, followed by starter, Biogrow, Biopower, Booster, NPK and the control. Therefore, the trial simply focused on the effectiveness of the fertilizer formulations on yield of the tomato variety, to improve the crops productivity by alleviating plant nutrient limitations through foliar application of the different fertilizer products. After analysis of the data collected, it is thereby recommended that Masaka fertilizer product is used for tomato based production based on the yield obtained from the trial on the Ansal tomato variety.