Standardisation of agro techniques for tomato production in naturally ventilated polyhouse

Abstract

newline The present investigation entitled Standardisation of agro techniques for tomato production in naturally ventilated polyhouse was conducted at the Research Farm of Department of Agricultural Engineering, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur during summer season of 2013 and 2014 in two separate experiments inside the naturally ventilated polyhouses. In the first experiment, treatments comprised of three dates of transplanting (15th March, 30th March and 15th April), two spacings (60 cm x 30 cm and 75 cm x 30 cm) and two training systems (two shoots and three shoots) was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. Plant grown on 15th March recorded significantly higher dry matter accumulation, more number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, fruits per cluster, fruit length, fruit width, fruit yield per plant (2.04 kg in 2013 and 2.22 kg in 2014), fruit yield kg/100 m2 (1007.5 kg/ha in 2013 and 1100.3 kg/ha in 2014) and benefit: cost ratio than other dates of planting during both the years. Plants grown at wider spacing of 75 cm x 30 cm took significantly lesser number of days for flower initiation, 50 per cent flowering, fruit setting and days to first picking, more number of fruits per plant (25.1 in 2013 and 28.9 in 2014) and highest yield per plant (1.81 kg in 2013 and 1.91 kg in 2014) than 60 cm x 30 cm spacing. The maximum fruit yield kg/100 m2 (887.2 kg/100 m2 in 2013 and 968.6 kg/100 m2 in 2014) was recorded under closer spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm. Plant spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm recorded maximum benefit: cost ratio (1.21 in 2013 and 1.24 in 2014) over 75 cm x 30 cm plant spacing. With regards to the number of shoots per plant, the treatment two shoots per plant recorded significantly higher yield and yield attributes with maximum net returns and benefit: cost ratio than plants trained to three shoots. In the second experiment, treatments comprising three hybrids (Avtar, Rakshita and Naveen 2000 plus), three fertigation levels (NPK at 20:20:20 g/m2, NPK at 25:25: