Influence of Weather Elements on Phenological Stages and Yield Components of Tomato Varieties in Rainforest Ecological Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

Production of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is severely affected during the peak of rainy seasons in South- western Nigeria leading to a decline in yield and fluctuation of prices. To study and identify the impacts of climate variability on phenological stages and yield components of tomato, tomato was cultivated in two separate peak rainy seasons (August to October, 2009 and May to July, 2010) in the Federal University of Technology Research Farm, Akure, Ondo State, South-west Nigeria. Climatic variables including rainfall (RR), relative humidity(R/H), maximum temperature (T_max), minimum temperature(T_min) were evaluated on four different tomato varieties (Roma VFN, Ibadan Local, Beske, UTC) with respect to tomato growth stages and quality of its yield components. The results showed that Ibadan local and Beske varieties started flowering exactly 6 Week After Transplanting (WAT) earlier than other varieties as well as varied in yield components. As seen from both planting seasons, Ibadan local (Ib.local) and Beske varieties produced significantly higher number of fruits/plant and fresh weight of fruits/plant than other varieties under the prevailing climate condition. The results show positive effects of rainfall during vegetative growth and negative effects during reproductive growth. Also, strong negative associations were observed between the yields and relative humidity. The correlations between rainfall and mean temperature with a yield of different tomato varieties were not consistent in both sign and magnitude. Fruit weight of the varieties was negatively correlated with RR, R/H and T_min with exception of Beske variety that was positively correlated with rainfall in the second planting season. In general, at significant level (? ? 0.05), second planting (May-July) is more favourable by prevailing climatic condition compared to first planting (August- October) with respect to yield quantity and quality obtained.

Key word: phenological development, climatic variables and tomato varieties.