Assessment of Variety Performance of Tomato Under Different Fertilisation Regimes in Ondo State

Tomato variety-fertiliser interaction effects on yield and fruit quality are important for variety recommendation under specific production contexts, and establishing these interactions for Ondo State's humid forest-savanna transition zone provides practical guidance for farmers and extension workers. This study assessed the performance of three tomato varieties (Roma VF, Beske, and Tropica) under three fertilisation regimes (sole NPK, sole poultry manure at 10 t ha-1, and NPK plus poultry manure combined) at Akure South LGA, Ondo State, South West Nigeria. A 3x3 factorial experiment arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replications was conducted during the 2023 dry season. Fruit number per plant, individual fruit weight, total fresh fruit yield, and Brix sugar content were measured. Results showed significant variety-fertilisation interactions for total yield and sugar content. Roma VF produced the highest total yield (22.8 tonnes per hectare) under combined NPK plus poultry manure, while Tropica showed the best fruit quality (Brix 6.2) under the same regime. Sole poultry manure produced the lowest yield for all varieties. NPK plus poultry manure consistently outperformed sole NPK by 18 to 26 percent across varieties. Beske showed the most stable performance across fertilisation regimes. The study concludes that combined NPK and poultry manure application is the most productive fertilisation regime for tomato in Ondo State, with Roma VF as the highest-yielding variety. Recommendations include multi-site variety validation trials across the state to confirm these findings under varying soil conditions.

Keywords: tomato variety, fertilisation regime, fruit yield, Ondo State, South West Nigeria