Abstract
ABSTRACT Field experiments were carried out in the 1995/96 and 1996/97 cool dry seasons to determine the effect of grass mulching intensities on soil temperature, weed infestation and growth and yield of irrigated tomato at Maiduguri in the semi-arid zone of Nigeria. In these trials, soil temperature difference between 0700 hours and 1300 hours was two times lower in mulched treatments than unmulched control treatment, thus keeping the day time soil temperature below supra-optimum levels. Furthermore, plant height, number of flowers/plant, fruit sets/plant, number of fruits/plant and harvested total marketable fruit yield/ha were significantly (P = 0.05) higher in the mulched treated plots than the unmulched control treatment. It was observed, also that the optimum mulch thickness is at 7.5 t/ha of grass material in this area in terms of effective weed suppression, better crop growth, optimum root temperatures and ultimate high yield of tomato.
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