Full Length Research paper

Trabajo de investigacin completo

Growth, fruit yield and nutritional
quality of
Crecimiento, produccin de fruta y calidad nutricional del
Tomato
tomate
varieties
variedades
J. O. Olaniyi*, W. B. Akanbi, T. A. Adejumo and O. G. Akande
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology, P. M. B. 4000,
Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Accepted 14 December, 2009

Agricultural Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology

(LAUTECH), Ogbomoso (810N; 410E)
between April and July, 2004 to evaluate the growth, fruit yield and quality
of seven varieties of tomato
in the Guinea Savannah zone of South West Nigeria. The varieties tested
were, DT97/162A(R),
DT97/215A, Tropical, Roma VF, UC82B, Ibadan local and Ogbomoso local.
These were assigned
randomly into three blocks each containing seven beds and fitted into
randomized complete block
design. Growth, yield, mineral content and quality attributes of tomato
were assessed. The results
showed that DT97/162A(R) gave the highest height whereas Ogbomoso
local recorded the highest
number of leaves at 6 weeks after transplanting. Higher fruit yield was
recorded from UC82B, closely
followed by Ibadan and Ogbomoso local. Although, there is inconsistence
in the results of the
nutritional compositions of tomato fruits, the local varieties (Ogbomoso
and Ibadan Local) closely
followed by UC82B recorded most of the nutritional values more than the
other varieties. Therefore
UC82B, Ibadan and Ogbomoso local in that descending order are better in
terms of fruit yield and
quality, and can be successfully grown in Ogbomoso, the Guinea Savannah
zone of south west Nigeria.
Key words: Lycopersicum lycopersicon, varieties, growth, fruit yield, fruit quality.

INTRODUCTION
Vegetable production can be adopted as a strategy for
La produccin vegetal puede ser adoptada como una estrategia para
improving livelihood and alleviating the nutritional status
mejorar los medios de vida y aliviar el estatus nutricional
of the people. It is the answer to the perpetual problems
de la gente, esta es la respuesta a los problemas perpetuosos
of hunger and malnutrition in the country. Since
de hambre y mala nutricin en el pas. Desde
Nigeria, a lot of children suffer from vitamin A
Nigeria, muchos nios sufren de deficiencia de vitamina A
deficiency, a nutritional problem that can be reduced by
un problema de nutricin puede reducirse por
regularly eating fruit and green leafy vegetables (South
comer fruta regularmente y vegetales de hoja verde
Pacific Foods, 1995).
Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops
el tomate es uno de los vegetales mas importantes
grown all over Nigeria. It is the worlds largest vegetable
cultivados en todo nigeria. Es el cultivo de vegetales mas grande del mundo
crop after potato and sweet potato but it tops the list of
despus de la papa y la papa dulce, pero encabeza la lista de
canned vegetables. In Nigeria, tomato is regarded as the
los vegetales enlatados. En nigeria, El tomate es considerado como el
most important vegetable after onions and pepper
vegetal mas importante despus de las cebollas y el pimiento
(Fawusi, 1978). It is an important condiment in most diets
Es un condimento importante en muchas dietas
and a very cheap source of vitamins. It also contains a
y muy bajo en vitaminas. Contiene una
large quantity of water (%), calcium (%) and Niacin all of
gan cantidad de agua, calcio y niacina, todos
which are of great importance in the metabolic activities
los cuales son de gran importancia en las actividades metabolicas
of man. Tomato is a good source of vitamins A, C and E and minerals that are very good for
del hombre. El tomate es un buen suminstro de vitamina a, c y e, y minerales que son buenos
para
body and protect the
el cuerpo y proteger el
body against diseases (Taylor, 1987).
Cuerpo contra enfermedades
Tomatoes are planted by an estimated 85% of the
Los tomates son plantados por un estimado del 85% de los
gardens each year. If well managed, tomato is highly productive
cultivos cada ao. Si bien gestionado, el tomate tiene alta produccion
(Denton and Swarup, 1983). Cropping of
la cosecha de
tomatoes during the wet and dry seasons contributes
tomate durante las temporadas mojadas y secas contribuyen
immensely to the national requirement but the bulk of
inmensamente a los requerimientos de la nacin pero el volumen de
production is from the dry season cropping particularly in
la produccin es de la temporada de cosecha seca particularmente en
southern states (Anon, 1989).
Estados del sur.
FAO (1983) estimated the national yield average to be
FAO estimo que el promedio nacional de rendimiento es de
114 tonnes/ha. Compared with U.S.A and Taiwan, where
114 toneladas. Comparado con usa y taiwan donde
yields as high as 175 and 178 tones per hectare
rendimiento es mas alto es de 175 y 178 por hectarea
respectively have been recorded (Bowen and Kratku,
respectivamente han grabado
1982), the yield of tomato in Nigeria is low, the average in
el rendimiento de tomate en nigeria es bajo, el promedio en
Western part of the country being only about 5 tones per
la parte occidental de la ciudad siendo solo sobre 5 toneladas por
hectare and in growing areas of Northern Nigeria is 20
hectrea y en reas de cultivo de nigeria del norte es 20
tones per hectare (Quinn, 1980; Adelana, 1978). One of
toneladas por hectrea. Una de
the reasons for this low yield in Nigeria is poor fruit set
las rasonas para este bajo rendimiento en nigeria es un mal conjunto de frutas
resulting from temperatures that are generally above
resultantes para temperaturas que generalmente estn por encima
optimum range for good fruit set (Simon and Sobulo,
del rango optimo para un buen conjunto de frutas
1974). Adelana (1975) also attributed poor tomato yield
adelana tambin atribuyo un rendimiento pobre de tomate
to non-development of flowers into fruits. He found that only 50% of the flowers produced
al no desarrollo de flores dentro de frutas. El encontr que solo el 50% de flores producidas
developed into fruits.
Desarrolladas en frutas.
This sink size was a limiting factor to fruit production in
Este lado del fregadero tiene un factor limitante de frutas para produccion en
tomato.
Tomate.
Tomato is currently a popular fruit vegetable in Nigeria,
El tomate es actualmente es una fruta vegetal popular en nigeria,
however, its production in Nigeria is low compared with
sin embargo, su produccin en nigeria es baja comparada con
those of the temperate zones due to differences in crop
De las zonas templadas debido a las diferencias en las
environmental conditions, lack of high yielding varieties
condiciones ambientales, ausencia de la alta variedad de rendimiento
and cultural practices applied to the crop on the field. The
y cultural aplica practicas para el cultivo en el campo. El
objective of this preliminary study was to examine the
objetivo de esto es estudios preliminares para examinar el
growth, fruit yield and quality of tomato varieties in
crecimiento, la produccin de fritas y la calidad de las variedades del tomate en
Ogbomoso, the guinea savannah zone of south west
Ogbomoso, la zona de sabana guinea del suroeste de
Nigeria. Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experiments were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farms,
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso,
(8101N; 4101E). The climatic of Ogbomoso is mostly influenced by
the North east trade wind and southwest trade wind. The former is
cold with drying effect which starts from November to March while
the later is warm and very moist. It starts from April to October. The
area has maximum temperature of 33C and the minimum
temperature of 28C. The humidity of this area is high (74%) all
year round except in January when the dry wind blows from the
north. Annual rainfall is over 1000 mm (Olaniyi, 2006). The land is a
bit sloppy towards the stream; the soil was a well drained sandy
loam which had been cropped previously for few years.
Prior to land preparation, soil samples (0 - 15 cm) were taken.
The samples were taken randomly from 150 spots in the experimental
site with an auger. Samples were bulked, air-dried, and
ground to pass through a 2 mm sieve. The soil samples were
analyzed for physico-chemical properties as follows: Soil particle
size was determined by Bouyoucos method (Bouyoucos, 1962).
Soil pH in H2O (1:1) was determined using the custom laboratory
apparatus (IITA, 1982). Soil organic carbon was determined by
Walkley black modified method (Black, 1965). Available phosphorus
and total nitrogen were determined separately by Technicon
A All method (Technicon, 1975), while exchangeable Ca, Mg, K, Na
and effective C.E.C in soils by use of atomic absorption
spectrophotometer (Tel and Hargerty, 1984).
The tomato varieties used included five hybrid varieties
(DT97162A(R), DT97/215A, Tropical, Roma VF, UC82B) and two
local varieties (Ibadan Local and Ogbomoso Local), all obtained at
the NIHORT and department of Agronomy, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso,
Nigeria.
The nursery beds were prepared and watered regularly using a
watering can and checked for seedling emergence which started on
the 5th day after sowing. The nursery plots were mulched to avoid
poor germination and prevent excessive heat. Transplanting of
tomatoes seedling into their respective plots in the field took place
four weeks after sowing (WAS) early in the morning after a heavy
rainfall (Adelana, 1976).
N.P.K (15-15-15) fertilizer was applied at the rate of 120 kg/ha
three weeks after transplanting (WATP) to boost the growth of the
crops. The fertilizer was applied by ring placement into drills 5 cm
deep and 7.5 cm away from the plant and covered with soil. Three
weeding operations were carried out on the field at two weeks interval.
Also, crop management includes spraying with cymbush at 2, 4
and 6 weeks after transplanting against defoliating pests (Vimala,
1978).
Data were collected on the growth parameters (number of leaves
and plant height) number of flowers, number of fruits per plant, fruit
weight per plant and fruit yield per hectare. The meter rulers was
used for the measuring of the tomato plant height from base to the tip of the main shoots while the
number of leaves were counted
and recorded at 3 and 6 WATP. The numbers of flowers were
counted and recorded at 50% flowering. The number of fruit per
plant was counted while the fruit weight per plant and fruit yield per
hectare were weighed and recorded at harvesting. The proximate
analysis of the fruit was also assessed. Fruit samples were collected
from each variety, and dried in an oven at 65C till constant
weight was obtained. The dried fruit samples were separately
ground with a Wiley mill, and passed through a 0.5 mm sieve for
tissue analysis. Total P was determined by the Vanadomolybdate
method, K and Ca were determined by flame photometry and Mg
and Fe were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer.
Total N was analysed by the micro-Kjeldahl procedure as described
by IITA (1982) and crude protein was obtained by multiplying the
total N by a factor of 6.25. Concentrations of nutrient were
expressed on the basis of percentage dry fruit material.
All data collected were subjected to the analysis of variance and
significant means separated where appropriate by the least
significant difference at 0.05 probability level.