Effect of Different Mulching Materials on Yield and Growth Parameters of Tomato Crop

The present investigation was carried out to study the performance of yield and growth parameters of tomato crop under different mulching materials. This experiment was conducted at Vikas College of Engineering and Technology, Nunna, Vijayawada during the period from Jan 2020 to April 2020. The experimental field has an area of 180 m2 (15m × 12m) and divided into 4 plots i.e., Drip with plastic mulch (A), Drip with live mulch (coconut coir) (S), Drip without mulch (M) and Control (without mulch and without drip) (K). Growth parameters like plant height, number of leaves per plant, soil parameters like bulk density, soil temperature, soil moisture and yield were observed for each treatment. Crop water requirement was calculated using CROPWAT 8.0. The results showed that the bulk density has no effect between the treatment plots. The soil moisture in initial stage is more in K and least in S; in flowering stage, M was high and least in K and in harvesting stage, it is high in A. The soil temperature was high in K and least in A. The readings of number of leaves was observed high in A and least in K. It was observed that highest yield was obtained in A and least in K. The weed control efficiency was found to be highest in A (57%) followed by S (41.3%) and weed control efficiency was lowest in M (22.8%).