Agronomic Performance of Three Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Varieties to Foliar Application of Neem Leaf Extract and Poultry Manure

Soil fertility and improved environmental quality are both important goals of today’s agriculture, the mere application of chemical fertilizers to degraded or over-cropped soil does not trigger crop productivity. For these highly leached soils, it is necessary to provide a balance of nutrients and to neutralize the acidity simultaneously with the use of animal manures and organic residues. Pot experiment was carried out in a hoop-house at the Teaching and Research Farm of Rivers State University from August 2020 to February 2021 cropping season to evaluate the agronomic performance of three Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) varieties (Jos, Beef and RVF) to the exogenous applications of Neem leaf extract (NLE) and poultry manure (PM). The NLE were applied at 30ml of 0, 5 and 10 litres concentrations with 20t/ha PM singly and in all possible combinations, in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) in three replications. The tested parameters were percentage emergence, days to 50% flowering and fruiting, plant height, number of branches, leaves, flowers, fruit, and fresh fruit weight. The results showed that applications of NLE (priming and foliar spray) and PM had significant (p≤0.05) effects on tested parameters over the control at all growth stages and on fruit yield; however, the combination of NLE and PM gave a better performance. Between the two levels of NLE, both the single and combined applications, NLE 10 gave a better growth and yield performance than NLE 5. The combination of NLE and PM gave a better performance on growth and yield than their single applications and the control. The combination of NLE10+PM exhibited the highest number of flowers, number of fruits and the heaviest fruits. Plants treated with neem leaf extract recorded zero pest infestation when compared to the control and PM treatments. Among the varieties, the Jos variety treated with NLE and PM single and in all combinations recorded the best and highest values in all growth and yield parameters, followed closely by RVF, while the Beef variety was the least. The significant effect of NLE and PM on the growth, yield, and insect pest control of the three tomato varieties suggests that NLE and PM can be used as a source of nutrients to grow tomato plants.