Effects of Pinching Time on the Performance of three Tomato Varieties (Lycopersicon lycopersicum Mill) in Ogbomoso and Mokwa, Nigeria

Field experiment was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and Niger State College of Agriculture, Mokwa, in 2012 cropping season to examine the effects of pinching on fruit yield and nutritional qualities of three tomato varieties. The experiment had twelve treatments of three varieties (Ogbomoso Local, Mokwa Local and UC82B) of tomato and four pinching times (0, 2, 4 and 6) weeks after transplanting (WAT), replicated three times. The experiment was laid out as split plot arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design. Data were collected on plant height, number of flowers, number of fruits and total fruit yield. The determination of fruit phytochemical contents at full ripening, 6 fruit samples were randomly selected per plot and analysed for nutritional qualities such as crude Protein, Carotene, Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Lycopene, Magnesium, Vitamin C contents. Data was analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) SAS package and treatment means compared using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. There were varietal differences in fresh fruit yield among the three varieties of tomato. UC82B gave the highest fruit yield (23.10 t ha-1) while Mokwa Local recorded the least (12.00 t ha-1). Pinching improved fruit yield of tomato. Plants pinched at 4 WAT gave the highest fruit yield (19.60 t ha-1) and the least obtained from un-pinched plants (12.50 t ha 1). Nutritional qualities (Lycopene, phosphorus, potassium) was best at PT of 6 WAT. It could be concluded from this experiment that, though highest yield of tomato (19.60 t ha-1) occurred with pinching at 4 WAT, the best nutritional qualities were obtained when pinched at 6 WAT. Also, UC82B was better than other varieties in terms of yield performance.