Agro-Morphological Response of Three Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Genotypes to CAFCOOP Products in the Nursery and Field Conditions

Abstract

Tomatoes are grown using chemical or organic fertilizers, which influence their quality at harvest. The study aimed to evaluate the agro-morphological and germinative characteristics of three tomato genotypes under CAFCOOP products. The Nadira F1, Rio grande and Roma savanna genotypes tested for their reaction to the effect of the CAFCOOP Ltd product were obtained from the Mfoundi market (Yaoundé). Germination time, emergence of seedlings and first leaf outline, number of secondary roots and stem development were counted manually at the nursery. In the field, a caliper was used to measure plant stem, while a graduated ruler was used to measure root length and plant height. The number of secondary roots, branches and plants were counted manually. The results obtained showed significant genotypic variation in all agro-morphological traits. The number of roots varied from 14.15 ± 2.8 to 22.46 ± 3.53 for Roma, from 10.38 ± 1.89 to 24.71 ± 3.69 for Nadira F1 and from 14.62 ± 2.99 to 24.38 ± 3.47 for Rio grande, for chemical and organic treatments respectively. Plant stem diameter ranged from 5.15 ± 1.14 mm to 9 ± 0.46 mm for Nadira F1 and Rio Control, with no significant difference between treatments. The number of branches per plant, with no significant difference between treatments, ranged from 11.50±3.83 to 17.95±2.98 for Nadira F1 and Rio grande. Our study has enabled us to gain a better understanding of the positive effect of organic products on tomato production.