Evaluation of Improved Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) Varieties for Fruit Yield and Yield Components under Irrigated Condition in lowland Area of South Omo Zone

Tomato is one of the most important and widely grown vegetables in Ethiopia. However, the productivity of the crop in the study area is challenged by the shortage of improved varieties. To alleviate this problem the field experiment was conducted two consecutive years during the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons to evaluate improved tomato varieties for fruit yield and yield components. Six improved tomato varieties (Chali, Fetene, Cochoro, Gelilema, Melka salsa, Melka shola) and one local were evaluated in randomized complete block design in three replications. Days of 90% maturity, plant height, number of fruit per plant, fruit weight per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of fruit per cluster, fruit polar and equatorial diameter and fruit yield were collected and subjected to analysis of variance using SAS software program. The combined result of the study revealed that there was a significant difference among varieties in all traits except plant height, the number of fruit per cluster and fruit equatorial diameter. The highest (40.71 t ha^-1) fruit yield was recorded from Chali variety with 97.3% fruit yields increment as compared to the local variety. Therefore, the use of Chali variety can be recommended at the Weyito location and its vicinity.

Author(s): Awoke Tadesse

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