EFFECT OF PRUNING AND NITROGEN ON GROWTH AND YIELD ON TOMATO

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different levels of pruning and nitrogen on the growth and yield of tomato cv. BAR1 Tomato-14 at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from October 2011 to March 2012. There were three nitrogen levels, viz., 0, 115, 161 kg N ha -1 and three pruning levels, viz., no pruning, single pruning and double pruning. The experiment was laid out in a RCBD with three replications. Nitrogen and pruning showed significant influence on the growth and yield contributing characters of tomato. The plant height, number of cluster per plant, flower per plant, fruit cluster per plant, fruit per plant, fruit diameter, length of individual fruit, weight of fruit per plant and yield (48.4 t/ha)were the highest when 161 kg N/ha was applied. For pruning, maximum yield (45.5 t/ha) was obtained from double pruned plants and the minimum (34.6t/ha) from no pruned plants. The combination of nitrogen and stem pruning also exhibited significant variation in all the yield component and yield. The combination of 161 kg N/ha and double pruning produced the highest yield (52.7 t/ha) and lowest (32.2 t/ha) from 0 kg N/ha and no pruning.