• Corpus ID: 201736868

Effects of weeding frequency and plant spacing on the infestation and damage of the major insect pests of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum l . )

@inproceedings{Degri2019EffectsOW,
  title={Effects of weeding frequency and plant spacing on the infestation and damage of the major insect pests of tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum l . )},
  author={Degri and Samaila and Oaya},
  year={2019}
}

• Degri, Samaila, Oaya
• Published 2019

Tomato insect pests are major constraint in tomato production in Gombe State. Therefore field studies were conducted at the Leventis Foundation/Gombe State Agricultural School, Tumu, Gombe State, Nigeria during 2015 and 2016 cropping seasons to assess the effects of planting space and weeding frequency on the infestation and damage of the major insect pests of tomato. The experiment was a 4 x 3 factorial arrangement laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The tomato planting spaces were (60 x 60 cm; 50 x 50 cm; 40 x 40 cm and 30 x 30 cm) as the first factor (A) and weeding frequencies (0, 1 and 2) was the second factor (B). Data were collected on: number of insect pests, plants’ height, number of fruits/plant, number damaged fruits, number of undamaged fruits, fruit weight and fruit yield. The spacing of 50 x 50 cm was the optimum for the reduction of the insect pests, increased growth performance and increased fruit yield. Two weeding frequencies of tomato at 3 and 6 weeks after transplanting (WAT) was also found to be good for the insect pest reduction, improved plant growth, increased fruit weight and fruit yield. This combined cultural control methods of insect pests is an ample potential to improve tomato production in the study area.