Variability among Twenty Tomato Cultivars for Yield Traits and Storability, Southern Guinea Savannah Ecological zone of Nigeria
Abolusoro P.F1.and Audu Rose N.O 2
ABSTRACT
A screen house experiment was conducted at Kabba college of Agriculture in kogi state of Nigeria from March – August 2021 and repeated at the same time in the year 2022, to study the variable characteristics associated with twenty tomato cultivars. The aim of the study is to sort out the most promising among the tested cultivars based on the yield and fruit quality for adoption as cultivar of choice for large scale production in the study area. Ten local and ten exotic cultivars were studied. The local cultivars were; Dan acre, Dan Hausa, Dan Karufi, Ishase, Ake –Ago pitis Testicles, Liye, Aho-Avegh, gou, local wrinkle, and Igede collected from Zaria, Kaduna, Zaria, Benue, Kabba and Ibadan. The exotic cultivars were; Tima, Rio Grande, Tropimech, Tomato peto 85, Roma VF, Roma savanna, Tomato-82-B, cobra F1, Boomerang and plum roma. Seedlings were raised from the selected 20 cultivars and transplanted to the screen house four week after planting. The experimental design was complete randomization, each treatment was replicated 3 times. Date was obtained for growth, yield and quality parameters. The growth and yield parameters were subjected to analysis of variance using FLSD at 5% probability level. The result from the experiment showed significant differences in all the growth and yield parameters. The fruit quality (storability, nutrient content), also varied across the cultivars. Based on the yield and quality parameters, five (5) most promising among the tested cultivars (Cobra, Boomerang, Rio grande, Ishaze and Dan karufi) were selected for further studies.
