Effect of Intra-row Spacing on Growth and Development of Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) Var. Roma VF, at the experimental site of Wollo University, South Wollo, Ethiopia

A field experiment was conducted at Wollo University experimental site during March to June 2013 cropping season. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of intra-row spacing on the growth and development of tomato. The experiment was conducted on a randomized complete block design with three replication. Only one variety Roma VF was used on the experiment. The treatment used are 20, 25, 30,35cms spacing between plants with an inter-row spacing of 70cm. Growth and development parameters were recorded and analyzed by using ANOVA. The result revealed that tomato plants planted at 30 and 35cms had higher branch number, flower and fruit number per plant but shorter in plant height. In general this research indicated that high plant density (narrow) spacing greatly affected plant. Significant effects (p≤0.05) of intra row spacing were observed for number of flower per plant.. The wider spacing (30cm,35cm) had the highest flower per plant (53 and 56) and the lower spacing (20cm an 25cm) had lowest flower per plant ( 21 and 26). Significant effect (p≤0.05) of in the intra-row spacing was observed for number of branches per plant. A significant effect (p≤0.05) of intra row spacing was observed for plant height. The maximum height was recorded from lower spacing (20cm, 25cm) i.e. 51 and 44 and the minimum plant height were recorded from wider spacing i.e. 40 and 39. Highly significant effects (p≤0.01) of intra row spacing were observed for number of fruit and leaf area. The wider spacing (30cm and 35cm) had the highest fruit per plant (43 and 44) and the lower spacing (20cm an 25cm) had lowest fruit per plant (10 and 12cms).