The influence of siam weed compost and inorganic fertiliser applications on tomato performance

Abstract

Tomato is an important vegetable crop with high soil nutrient requirements. Hence, improvement in soil fertility status must be met through the use of readily available nutrient sources. Chromolaena odorata is widely spread in the country, and its compost has the potential of improving tomato yield. However, there is a dearth of information on the response of tomatoes to Chromolaena Compost (CC) and NPK fertiliser interactions. In the 4 x 3 factorial arrangement, CC at 0, 6, 8 and 10 t/ha and NPK 15-15-15 at 0, 15 and 30 kg N/ha were evaluated in a completely randomised design and a randomised complete block design for pot and field studies, using 10 kg/pot soil and 33333 plants/ha, respectively, with 3 replicates. Data on growth and yield parameters were subjected to analysis of variances by using SAS version 9.0. In the pot, the interaction of 8 t/ha of CC and 30 kg N/ha of NPK 15-15-15 fertiliser gave a significantly higher number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area and the highest fruit set at 49 days after transplanting compared to other treatments. In the field, the number of fruits/plant (20.89) was significantly higher with the interaction of 10 t/ha of CC and 30 kg N/ha of NPK 15-15-15 fertiliser, while 8 t/ha of CC and 30 kg N/ha of NPK 15-15-15 fertiliser treatment gave the significantly higher fruit size (64.61 g) and yield (31.73 t/ha) compared to the control (11.33, 32.09 g and 9.66 t/ha, respectively). The application of 8 t/ha of CC with 30 kg N/ha of NPK 15-15-15 fertiliser was therefore recommended.