Effects of Different Substrates on the Growth and Yield of Tomato Plants

The need to provide an alternative media (substrate) for household production of tomatoes is highly imperative as availability of land for farming is becoming scarce in cities due to urbanization. This work examined the effects of substrates on growth and optimum fruits yield of tomatoes. Tomatoes were planted in three different substrates; Soil + Rice Ash (SoR) (v/v: 50:50), Sawdust + Rice Ash (SdR) (v/v: 50:50), Soil + Poultry Droppings (SoP) (v/v: 80:20), and Soil only. All treatments were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Parameters taken include plant height (PH), number of fruits (NoF), fruit weight (FW), chlorophyll content (CC) and root weight (RW). Data collected were analysed using analysis of variance (SAS 9.4 version) and means were separated using least significant differences at 5% level of significance. The PH, NoF, FW, CC, and RW differed significantly among treatments and ranged from 27.9±4.9 cm (soil) to 83.4±4.9cm (SoR), 6.8±1.8 (soil) to 18.0±1.8 (SoR), 131.9±64.1g (SdR) to 400.9±64.1g (SoR), 22.8±1.6 (soil) to 35.5±1.6 (SoR), and 1.6±1.1g (SdR) to 7.6±1.1g (SoR), respectively. The soil plus rice ash substrate (treatment) outperformed all other substrates in terms of all parameters considered and thus recommended for household producers and small-scale farmers who want to improve their produce via organic practice to meet the demand of the populace without necessary going for poultry manure.