|Author: ||H. Elattir|
|Keywords: ||Lycopersicon esculentum, cultivars, fruit set, fruit weight, total yield, early yield, fruit soluble solids.|
Three different plant densities of two processing tomato cultivars (Heinz 1370 and Rio Grande) were compared during two seasons in a sandy loam soil located at 17 km south-east of Agadir, Morocco.
The distance between single seed lines was 1.3 m and the distance between clumps in the seed line was 0.25 m.
Tomato plants were thinned at the second true-leaf stage, to one, two or three plants per clump for a desired final plant density of 30400, 60800 and 91200 plants ha-1, respectively.
When plant density increased, the number of clusters per mē increased significantly with no difference between cultivars.
However, the fruit set percentage decreased from the first to the third cluster when plant density increased.
Rio Grande had a higher fruit set percentage than Heinz 1370. Compared to the control (30400 plants ha-1), the highest plant density increased the yield by 40% without significant difference between cultivars.
High early yield was obtained in the Rio Grande cv under high plant density.
The mean fruit weight decreased when the plant density increased.
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