EFFECT OF AGE AT TRANSPLANTING ON YIELD AND SOME YIELD COMPONENTS IN TOMATO, LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM, MILL

Abstract

Age at transplanting significantly affected fruit yield, mean fruit weight and establishment count in five cultivars of tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, Mill., evaluated for three years at the University of Ife, Ile-lfe, Nigeria. There was no genotype x transplanting age interaction. Raising tomato seedlings in the nursery for five weeks before transplanting is the optimum period under our condition. Establishment count, fruit number and mean fruit weight had large total effects while delayed flowering had a negative total effect on yield in tomato. Every trait investigated had a positive (though small) direct effect on yield through age at transplanting.