Abstract:
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is an important vegetable
which serves as a cash crop for the farmers of Sri Lanka. Due to high temperature, poor
availability of water and improper nutrient management, the production of tomato is
below the potential level. Coir pith compost (CPC) has favorable properties to be used
as organic manure. Hence a pot experiment was conducted during the 'yala' season at
the department of Agricultural Biology of Eastern University Sri Lanka to study the
effects of CPC on the productive performance of tomato. Five treatments with
recommended inorganic fertilizers (TO); farmyard manure (FYM) (Tl); CPC (T2);
combination of FYM and inorganic fertilizers (T3); and combination of CPC and
inorganic fertilizers (T4) were arranged in Complete Randomized Design with four
replications. Performance of tomato was assessed in terms of plant height, number of
leaves per plant, Leaf Area Index (LAI) and yield components such as number of fruits
per plant, fruit size and fresh yield. The results revealed that the highest number of
leaves and fruits per plant were recorded in T3. Mean fruit size and LAI were
significantly (P< 0.05) higher in T4. Even though the highest yield was recorded in T4 it
did not differ significantly (P< 0.05) with that of T3. It was noted that combined use of
fertilizers either CPC and inorganic fertilizer or FYM and inorganic fertilizer has
resulted in better yield (28% higher than control). Hence it could be concluded that coir
pith compost can be used as an organic manure to improve the productivity of tomato
cultivation.
