EFFECT OF MULCH INC AND NITROGENUS FERTILIZER ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of mulching and nitrogenous fertilizer on the growth and yield of tomato at the Horticulture Farm. Sher-c-langla Agricultural University. Dhaka during October 2007 to March 2008. The experiment consisted of three different types of mulches (Mo=No mulch. M1 Blaek polythene and M 2 =White polythene) and four levels of nitrogen (viz. No=0, N=230. N 2=240 and N 3 =250 kg N/ha) with their combinations were used as treatments in the study. The experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. In ease of nitrogen, N 2 resulted the highest yield per hectare (59.73 tlha) and control produced the lowest (28.13 tlha). Different mulching had also significant influence on yield of tomato. The yield per hectare was the highest (59.83 t/ha) against black polythene mulch (M i ) while the control (no mulching) produced the lowest yield (35.75 1./ha). In respect of combined elThet. application of N2M1 produced the highest yield per hectare (82.25 kg/ha) and the lowest yield (24.10 1/ha) was obtained from the control treatment. Considering the above findings, application of 240 kg N/ha with black polythene mulch seems to be recommendable for tomato cultivation.