EFFECT OF POTASSIUM ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Farm, Dhaka, Bangladesh during October 2020 to April, 2021 to evaluate the effect of potassium on growth and yield of tomato. Selected variety of tomato was, viz., BARI Tomato-2, and six doses of potassium viz. T 0 =0 kg/ha T 1 = 20 kg/ha, T = 60 kg/ha, T 4 = 80 kg/ha and T = 100 kg/ha were used to conduct this experiment. The experiment was laid out in Randomized complete Block Design (RCBD) having single factor and replicated three times. Data were taken on growth,yield contributing characters, yield and the collected data were statistically analyzed for evaluation of the treatment effects.Plant height was recorded at 30, 40, 50 and 60 DAT (days after transplanting) and observed growth of BARI Tomato-2 which was significantly higher in early vegetative to successive days after planting up to 60 DAT where highest plant height (69.9 cm) was obtained in T 5 treatment which performed better compared to other treatments. As like the plant height, branch development of BARI Tomato-2 was also better which indicating higher branch number. Number of fruits plant 4 -1 of tomato varied significantly for different levels of potassium fertilizer. The highest number of fruits plant -1 (30.3) was recorded from BARI Tomato-2 variety with the treatment of T . The highest fruit weight (80.96 g) was recorded from treatment T where 80 kg/ha potassium was applied.The maximum yield of fruits per plot was observed for T 4 as 62.57 kg per plot. The maximum straw yield per plot was resulted from the treatment of T 2 4 as 12.67 kg per plot. The maximum yield of fruits per hectare was resulted from the treatment of T (66.74 t/ha). Based on the result of the present study it was found that application of T 4 80 kg/ ha treatment performed the highest yield (66.74 t/ha) of BARI Tomato-2. The treatment T 4 with the application of 80 kg/ ha potassium is the appropriate practice for tomato production and considered as optimum potassium fertilizer dose for the maximum yield of BARI Tomato-2 (RATAN).