Influence of Topping and Spacing on Growth, Yield, and Fruit Quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Under Greenhouse Condition

Abstract

Tomato is an important vegetable in Ghanaian diet and contributes enormously in livelihood improvement. Tomato production is threatened by a high prevalence of biotic and abiotic stresses as well as increased postharvest losses and poor agronomic practices, thereby resulting in massive importation of tomato and its products to meet the local demands. The recent introduction of greenhouse vegetable cultivation technology in Ghana is a sustainable attempt in addressing and ensuring year-round production of vegetables including tomato. However, research on agronomic practices targeted to improving yield and fruit quality under greenhouse conditions in Ghana is scarcely available. Therefore, this study seeks to evaluate the effect of plant spacing and topping on tomato yield and fruit quality under greenhouse conditions. A 3 ×3 factorial treatment arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used. Two factors, plant spacing and topping with each having three levels, were used. Thus, the levels for plant spacing were 0.15 m × 1.3 m, 0.2 m × 1.3 m, and 0.3 m × 1.3 m while topping treatments at trusses 2, 3, and 4 (control) were done. The results showed that yield was significantly influenced by plant spacing in both experiments. The interaction effect of 0.2 m × 1.3 m plant spacing and topping at truss 2 showed significantly higher yields. Furthermore, juice volume was significantly increased by plant spacing. Again, 0.2 m × 1.3 m plant spacing by truss 2 topping interaction produced the highest juice volume. Therefore, these agronomic practices could be an essential and effective approach in achieving higher tomato production with improved fruit quality under greenhouse cultivation to ensure sustainable food security.

Greenhouse Tomato Production for Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security in the Tropics

“…There have been reports of great increases in tomato yield and yield components when recommended plant spacing was used [33][34][35]. A recent study by Nkansah et al [36] suggested plant spacing of 0.2 × 1.3 m for greenhouse tomato production.…”

“…Topping has been shown to improve fruit quality and yield by causing assimilates to be redistributed to developing fruits [44,45]. In the Solanaceae family, topping improved yield and yield components in eggplant [46], pepper [47] and tomato [36]. According to Nkansah et al [36], tomato yields were increased by topping at truss 2.…”

“…In the Solanaceae family, topping improved yield and yield components in eggplant [46], pepper [47] and tomato [36]. According to Nkansah et al [36], tomato yields were increased by topping at truss 2.…”

Dynamics of Water Quality and Deficit Irrigation on Residual Soil Micronutrients, Carbon Sequestration and Crop Productivity in a Greenhouse Environment

“…Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) production, as a popular cash crop business occupies an important position due to its versatile usability throughout the world [19][20][21]. Tomatoes are a high-yielding, high-valued and high water requirement crop, cultivated in both open and protected facilities [22,23].…”

Improved nursery practices and farmers’ willingness to adopt heat-tolerant tomatoes under tropical conditions

“…Studies have examined the adoption of improved production practices (Asante et al, 2013;Huat et al, 2013;Masood et al, 2018;Frimpong et al, 2021;Gotame et al, 2021;Nkansah et al, 2021;Shrestha et al, 2021;Iqbal et al, 2022;Akomdo et al, 2023). Most of these studies focused on the agronomic effects (Masood et al, 2018;Gotame et al, 2021;Shrestha et al, 2021;Iqbal et al, 2022), while others investigated such adoption decisions under different production settings.…”