Abstract
The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer on the growth and yield of two landrace of Snake tomatoes , (Trichosanthes cucumerina L..), with the aim to determining the landrace of Trichosanthes cucumerina that best suit the environmental condition of South South ecological zone with special reference to Benin City and also the landrace that responds better to fertilizer application. The experiment was conducted twice in the early and late cropping seasons of 2010. Four fertilizer levels of 0, 80, 160 and 240kg/ha were paired with two landraces of Trichosanthes cucumerina, V1, V2 ,.The experimental layout was a 4 × 2 factorial experiment in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Number of leaves, vine length, and vine girth were taken at 4 and 8 Weeks after Transplanting (WAT), leaf area was determined at mid flowering, while number of days to flowering, fresh weight, dry weight, length of fruits and number of seeds were taken at harvest. The result of the study showed no significant difference in number of days to flowering, aborted flowers, rotted fruits, and leaf area among the landraces, but there was highly significant difference for vine length, vine girth, fruit girth, fruit length, number of seeds, fresh weight, and dry weight between the landraces. NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer levels were significant for all the parameters determined, except for number of leaves at 4 Weeks after Transplanting, and number of days to flowering. Interactions between NPK15:15:15 fertilizer levels and landraces was not significant across the parameters taken at 4 WAT, however it had significant effects on yield data taken.
Highlights
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), (1998), reported that countries of West and Central Africa sub-regions have a large number of underutilized indigenous edible plant species that are important in the nutrition of the livelihood of rural population
Trichosanthes cucmerina is a newly introduced crop of increasing importance in several parts of Africa including Ghana and Nigeria, mainly for the red fruit pulp used as a substitute for the regular tomato sauce, components which provide protection against harmful free radicals and have been strongly associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, cataracts and age related functional decline in addition to other health benefits (Wang et al 1996; Velioglu et al 1998; Cohen et al 2000; Liu et al (2000); Knett et al 2002; Sweeney et al 2002;
The experiment was conducted during 2010 cropping seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria
Summary
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), (1998), reported that countries of West and Central Africa sub-regions have a large number of underutilized indigenous edible plant species that are important in the nutrition of the livelihood of rural population. In Africa, scientific studies by Chweya (1996), Adebooye (1996), Adebooye et al (2001), Abutkutsa-onyago (2003) have highlighted the importance of the indigenous edible plants in the nutrition of the rural human population in Africa. These traditional food plants reported by Adebooye (1996) are major sources of nutrients for rural dwellers that cannot afford milk, egg and their products. Trichosanthes cucmerina is a newly introduced crop of increasing importance in several parts of Africa including Ghana and Nigeria, mainly for the red fruit pulp used as a substitute for the regular tomato sauce, components which provide protection against harmful free radicals and have been strongly associated with reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, cataracts and age related functional decline in addition to other health benefits (Wang et al 1996; Velioglu et al 1998; Cohen et al 2000; Liu et al (2000); Knett et al 2002; Sweeney et al 2002;. Sahlin et al (2004).These positive effects as highlighted above are believed by Lavelli et al (2000) as well as Zhang and Hamauzu, (2004) to be attributable to the anti-oxidants, the carotenoids, flavonoids, lycopene, phenolics and βcarotene
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