EFFECTS OF SALICYLIC AND BENZOIC ACIDS ON THE MARKETABLE YIELD OF MOISTURE STRESSED TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) AT KADAWA IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Moisture stress is one of the abiotic factors affecting crop production in sub-Saharan Africa characterized by erratic rainfall. In order to address this problem, an experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station Farm, Kadawa (11̊ 38ʹ 40.3ʺ N, 8̊ 25ʹ 53.9ʺ E) 498 m elevation above sea level during 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 dry seasons to study the effect of   antitranspirants on the yield attributes of moisture stressed tomato. The treatments consisted of two Antitranspirant (Salicylic acid and Benzoic acid) at four concentrations each (0, 200, 400 and 600 ppm) and  three moisture stress stages (vegetative, flowering and fruit setting), factorially combined and laid out in a split-plot design replicated three times. Antitranspirant and moisture stress constituted the main plot and concentrations as sub-plot treatment. The gross plot size was 3.6 m x 3.0 m (10.8 m²) consisting of 6 rows of 3 m length, while the net plot size was 1.2 m x 1.8 m (2.16 m²) consisting of 2 inner rows. Data were taken on   fruit diameter, number of fruits plant^-1, average fruit weight, marketable fruit yield, weight of marketable fruit yield and total fruit yield. Data generated were analysed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). The results revealed that, application of 200 and 400 ppm of antitranspirant produced plants with larger fruit diameter, more number of fruits plant^-1 and total fruit yield. On various stages considered, imposing stress at vegetative stage gave significantly higher total fruit yield than other stages implying that flowering and fruiting stages were found to be the critical growth stages for moisture stress of tomato. Study on the antitranspirants revealed that, foliar application of 400 ppm of Salicylic acid at fruit setting stage statistically appeared to promote tomato yield in the study area. The study concluded that salicylic acid performed better than benzoic acid. It was recommended that farmers should be encouraged to use salicylic acid in order to reduce irrigation frequency and to increase yield.