Growth of Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum Mill.) as Influenced by Training and Pruning at Sokoto Fadama, Nigeria

Field experiments were conducted during 2004/05 and 2005/06 dry seasons at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Fadama Teaching and Research Farm, Sokoto, to study the effects of training, intra-row spacing and pruning on the growth of tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum var. Roma VFN) in the semi-arid zone of Nigeria. Treatments consisted of a factorial combination of two levels of training (staked and unstaked) and three pruning levels (three-stem, two-stem and unpruned) laid out in a split-plot design replicated three times. Training was allocated to the main plots while pruning was allocated to the sub-plots. Results revealed that Plant Height, Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Days to 50% flowering were favored by unstaking. Unpruned plants produced higher LAI, Shoot Dry Weight (SDW) and took longer Days to 50% flowering. Thus, pruning and staking (Training) may reduce growth of tomato. Higher growth in unstaked and unpruned plants may translate to higher total fruit yield (marketable +unmarketable). Pruning and training resulted is early flowering of tomato. Keywords: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.), training, pruning, Nigeri