Evaluation of growth and yield of two groups of indeterminate tomato (Lycopersecon esculentum Mill.) under cooled plastic house conditions

Abstract

This study was conducted at Eilafon Area, Bahri Governorate, Khartoum State, under cooled plastic houses conditions, with the objective of evaluating the adaptability and productivity of six indeterminate tomato cultivars. Normal and cherry tomato varieties were tested. The normal varieties were Chanoa, Merel, Sensie and Yusra, and the cherry varieties were Tomi and Elitrro. The study was conducted during summer season 2007 in two different locations. The parameters assessed in this study were plant height (cm), number of leaves/plant, number of internodes/plant, number of clusters/plant, number of flowers/inflorescence, number of fruits/cluster, number of fruits/square meter, fruits weight/meter square, and fruit diameter (mm). The results showed that Merel cultivar had the highest plant height and highest number of leaves and internodes per plant, while Sensie cultivar produced the highest number of branch/plant. The cultivars, Yusra and Chanoa recorded the highest number of fruit clusters, while cultivars Merel, Sensie and Chanoa recorded the highest number of flowers and fruits per cluster. Chanoa cultivar recorded the highest number of fruits per square meter. Regarding productivity, Chanoa exhibited the highest productivity (256.3 t/ha) followed by Yusra (241.3 t/ha). Yusra cultivar recorded the highest fruit diameter (60- 70mm). In the cherry group, Elitrro cultivar (247.5 t/ha) showed highest growth and yield parameters compared to Tomi cultivar (206.3 t/ha). However, the productivity of both Elitrro and Chanoa was almost similar. However, since Chanoa is a normal sized tomato it might have economical advantage over Elitrro in local markets as cherry tomato cultivars are not of similar popularity.