EVALUATION OF TOMATO VARIETIES GROWN IN SOILLESS MEDIA UNDER PROTECTED CONDITION IN SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNAH, NIGERIA

A screen house experiment was conducted at the Horticulture section of the College of Agriculture, Kabba, Kogi State, Nigeria during the rainy seasons of 2022 and 2023 years to evaluate the growth and yield of tomato varieties as influenced by different potting media. The experiment was 5 x 6 factorial combinations laid out in a complete randomized design and with five replicates. The treatment consisted of 5 varieties of tomato (Ogidi local, F1 Anaya, F1 Presido, F1 Mona and Royal bold F1) and 6 soilless growth media (Rice husk (100%), sawdust (100%), (rice husk (33.33%)+ sawdust (33.33%) + cow dung (33.33%), (rice husk (50%)+ cowdung (50%), sawdust (50%) + cow dung (50%) and prismasta (100%). Growth parameters taken were number of leaves, plant height (cm), stem girth (cm) while yield characters included fruit weight (g) and number of fruits per plant. The result obtained from the mean of both 2022 and 2023 indicated that Ogidi local had the tallest plants across the sampling weeks (71.36 cm) which was at par with F1 Anaya (64.80 cm). F1 Presido had the broadest stem (2.6 cm) and most leaves (64 leaves). Primasta medium gave the tallest plants (63.7 cm), widest stem (3.0 cm) and highest number of leaves (56). Variety Presido F1 gave the highest yield (2.80 kg/plant) compared to others that ranged between 1.10 kg and 2.50 kg. The implication of the results obtained from the study is that Primasta performed best in terms of growth and yield components but only served as positive check. The best yield was obtained in tomato with sawdust + cow-dung combined (3.35 kg) and therefore sawdust (50%) + cow-dung (50%) is recommended to tomato farmers for soilless farming. Presido F1 variety of tomato performed best and therefore recommended