Impact of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on the Yield, Lycopene and Some Minerals in Tomato (Lycopersicum Esculentum Mill) Fruit.

Lycopene, an antioxidant contained in tomatoes, which is found to reduce the risk of cancer can be affected by management practices. A field experiment was carried out behind Recreational Centre of Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (I.A.R&T), Moor Plantation, Ibadan (latitude 7^o22’N and longitude 3^o50’SE). The experiment was done during the rainy season of 2014 between May and July. Effectiveness of organic and inorganic fertilizers in the growth, yield and nutrient composition of tomato were compared in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments which include sole application each of NPK and Organic fertilizer, there complimentary application and the control replicated three times. Tomato premier (variety UC-82-B) was planted at 50 cm × 50 cm at 1 seedling per stand. The Aleshinloye Compost (Grade B) organic fertilizer was applied two weeks before transplanting at 100 kgN/ha at the appropriate plots while NPK 15:15:15 was applied 2 weeks after transplanting at 100kgN/ha.  Parameters assessed were plant height (cm), number of leaves, number of branches, stem girth (mm) while the yield parameters observed were days to 50 % flowering, number of flowers/plot, number of flowers aborted, number of rotten fruits/plot, number of fruits/plot and fruit weight (g). Nutrient component determined in the laboratory were lycopene, potassium and sodium. The fertilizer sources did not affect the growth of tomato but were better than the control plots. At 8 weeks after transplanting (8 WAT), NPK 15:15:15 treated plant had more flower abortion of 34.7 than the lowest flower abortion of 24.67 from the control plots. NPK 15:15:15 at 100 kgN/ha gave the highest fruit yield of 18.60 t/ha while the lowest yield (4.07 t/ha) was obtained from the control plots. Highest value of lycopene content of 2.65 % was found in plots supplied with NPK but is comparable with the control plot but higher than other sources. Potassium content of 20.80 % was lowest in NPK plots while potassium accumulation of 23.20% was highest in the control but not different statistically from each other. Sodium content had highest percentage in untreated plot with 0.43 % and sodium ion was lowest in NPK + organic treated plot which have the value of 0.31%.

Keywords: Fertilizer, Lycopene, Nutrient Composition, Tomato, Yield