Effect of salinity level of irrigation water on the yield of tomato

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the salinity level of irrigation water from a dug well, pond and tap water as well as its effect on the yield of a tomato crop at the University of Cape Coast Teaching and Research Farm. Water samples were taken at fortnight intervals to determine the electrical conductivity (dSm-1) using the TOA water quality checker 20A. The averages of the four batches were computed and used as the three sources for the period of assessment. Flowering and yield of crop were the parameters used to assess the effect of salinity level on the tomato crop. Electrical conductivity as a measure of salinity was higher in the pond (0.25 dS/m) than the well and tap water (0.07 dS/m and 0.02 dS/m, respectively). Flowering and yield of tomato was high with crops treated with well water (45.22%; 99.08kg/ha) followed by the pond (27.70%; 43.76kg/ha) and tap water (27.08%; 27.25kg/ha) in that order. There was no significant difference in flowering and in yield of crops between the tap and pond treatments at both 0.05 and 0.01 levels but there was a significant difference in yield between the well treated crops and other sources. However, the yield for all the three treatments was very low (lower than expected) because there was no fertilization, pests and disease control