EFFECT OF STEM PRUNING ON YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF CHERRY TOMATO IN SOILLESS CULTURE

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted in the semi-greenhouse at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e- Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh, during October 2019 to March 2020 to investigate the effect of stem pruning on yield and yield contributing characters of cherry tomato in soilless culture . The experiment consisted of three level of pruning viz. P ii 0 = No pruning; P = One stem pruning and P 2 = Two stem pruning and four different cherry tomato varieties viz. V = BARI Tomato-11; V 2 = BARI Tomato-20; V 3 = Red Star and V = SAU Tomato-2. There were 12 treatment combinations and experiment were setup in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. In case of pruning, the highest plant height, maximum branch number per plant, maximum chlorophyll content, minimum days required for first flowering and first fruiting, maximum flower cluster per plant, maximum fruit number per plant, highest single fruit weight (9.31 4 g), highest amount of TSS (9.46 degrees Brix) and yield per plant (2.37 kg) were obtained from P treatment at 60 DAT. Similarly, in case of varieties, the highest plant height , maximum branch number per plant, maximum chlorophyll content, minimum days required for first flowering and first fruiting, maximum flower cluster per plant, maximum fruit number per plant, highest single fruit weight (8.50 g), highest amount of TSS (8.92 degrees Brix) and yield per plant (2.63 kg) were obtained from V treatment at 60 DAT. In combined effect, the highest plant height , maximum branch number per plant, maximum chlorophyll content, minimum days required for first flowering and first fruiting, maximum flower cluster per plant, maximum fruit number per plant, highest single 2 fruit weight (12.42 g), highest amount of TSS (10.53 degrees Brix ) and yield per plant (2.98 kg) were obtained from V 2 P 2 treatment. Among the treatment combination, V 2 P (BARI Tomato-20 variety with two stem pruning) treatment seemed to be more promising for obtaining the maximum yield of cherry tomato.