tomato varieties
Studies on the agronomic characteristics of tomato as influenced by irrigation and mulching were conducted during the drying seasons of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 at the Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria. The experiment was made up of four tomato varieties viz; Roma VF, Ibadan local, Ife 1 and UC82B; four irrigation intervals and two levels of mulching viz; mulching and no mulching. It was a 4 x4 x 2 factorial experiment fitted into randomized complete block design. Rice straw was used as mulch material at the rate of 5 t ha-1 while irrigation water was applied at 2, 4, 6 and 8 days intervals. Equal quantity of water was applied at each irrigation event. The effect of irrigation interval on plant height was significant in 2011 while varietal effect was significant in both years. Variety and mulching did not significantly affect number of branches in both 2010 and 2011 dry seasons. Mulching and irrigation interval significantly (P≤ 0.05) affected number of trusses, flowers and fruits. The highest number of trusses, flowers and the highest fruit yield was obtained at 4 days irrigation interval.
