ASCOT Library Zabali Campus

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Crop Science)

This present study focuses on the experimental investigation of the effects of varying levels of lateral shoot pruning on tomato plants. The study examines several growth and yield parameters, including plant height, number of fruits, the weight of fruits, marketable and non marketable fruits, and total yield. The experiment involved twelve test plots, each containing 14 plants. These plants were randomly assigned and pruned with 2, 4 and 6 lateral shoots. A total of 10 samples were taken for evaluation.
The result indicate that plants pruned with 6 lateral shoots exhibited the best outcomes, particularly in terms of yield parameters. They had the highest number of fruits (6.67), marketable fruits (2054.31g) and total fruit yield (2843.31g) compared to the other treatments. Additionally, these plants recorded fewer non marketable fruits compare to the control, which yielded the highest quantity of non marketable fruits, despite having high overall yield quantities.. However, despite variations observed in the measured parameters across the different treatments, no significant differences were noted. As a result, the study concludes that lateral shoot pruning has no influence on the growth and yield of tomato.