Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, during 2011-12 to study the production potentials of tomato hybrid COTH 2 under naturally ventilated polyhouse and open condition. Observations on biometric and quality traits were made at every month of planting so as to study the environmental influence on growth, yield and quality of tomato. Plants grown under naturally ventilated polyhouse exhibited superior performance in terms of robust growth, early flowering, extended duration, the highest yield and good quality fruits. The tallest plants (187.3 cm) were obtained in October planting in polyhouse as compared to open field condition. Plants grown in polyhouse also exhibited early flowering in 26 days of transplanting. All the other vegetative and reproductive traits viz., number of branches (4.80), number of flowers per plant (39.65), number of fruits per plant (52.4), fruit length (6.20cm), fruit girth (13.83 cm), fruit weight (71.3 g), dry matter production (121.49 g) and fruit yield per plant (3.70 kg/plant) was found to be the highest during the month of October closely followed by September planting in naturally ventilated polyhouse. Whereas in open condition, planting during the months of June, July enhanced biometric characters. The yield was almost tripled under polyhouse condition, as compared to open field planting. The biochemical constituents viz., Ascorbic acid and TSS were found to be influenced by the growing environment.

Keywords: Tomato, COTH 2, Naturally ventilated polyhouse, Open, Growth, Yield, Quality