Effects of Planting Methods and Seed Density on Vegetable Yield and Nutrient Composition of <i>Solanum macrocarpon</i>and <i>Solanum scabrum</i>in Southwest Nigeria

Two field studies were carried out using Solanum macrocarpon and Solanum scabrum to investigate the effects of planting methods and seed density required for optimum biomass yield and nutrient content in southwest Nigeria. Two planting methods (drilling and broadcasting), and two seed densities (4 and 8 table spoon full) were investigated as a 2×2×3 factorial experiment in randomized complete block design and replicated three times. Four seed spoons gave 25.78 kg seeds ha-1 for S. macrocarpon and 20.67 kg·seeds·ha-1 for S. scabrum. Significant highest S. macrocarpon shoots (2.75 kg·m-2) and Ca, K, Fe and Zn contents and S. scabrum (2.95 kg·m-2) and Zn content, were obtained with drilling and four spoons of seeds compared with broadcasting and 8 spoons of seeds. This treatment gave average values for N, P, K, Mg, Ca, Na, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ca/P and Na/K ratio were 2.79%, 0.03%, 3.37%, 1.64%, 0.02%, 300 mg·kg-1, 100 mg·kg-1, 300 mg·kg-1, 8 mg·kg-1, 1.22 and 0.008 for S. macrocarpon and 2.05%, 0.27%, 5.81%, 3.27%, 2.91%, 0.09%, 280 mg·kg-1, 52.99 mg·kg-1, 359.35 mg·kg-1 and 22.42 mg·kg-1, 11.63 and 0.016 for S. scabrum. It was concluded that planting in drilling made weeding, fertilizer application, irrigation and harvesting more effective rather than by broadcasting, and four spoons of seeds per 9 m-2 produced deep green and broader leaves and balanced nutrient contents than eight spoons of seeds.

Effect of Grafting on Growth and Shelf Life of Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Grafted on Two Local Solanum Species

The Rio Grande variety of tomato is widely grown because of its high productivity during the cold and dry seasons, and its resistance to Verticillium wilt (caused by Fusarium oxysporium) and to stem canker (Alternaria). Grafting tomato onto compatible rootstocks resistant to these diseases offers a better potential to overcome soil-borne diseases, abiotic stresses, improve growth, yield and fruit quality. However, in Cameroon, there is little or no information on grafting between Rio Grande tomato and selected eggplant rootstocks. The objectives of this study were: 1) To determine the compatibility between Rio tomato grafting and a popular local eggplant (Nkeya) rootstock;2) To verify the effect of grafting on flowering time;3) To evaluate the effect of eggplant rootstocks on growth, fruit shelf life and fruit quality of Rio tomatoes. The trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Rio Grande (To) was the ungrafted treatment used as a control. To/Ko, To/To and To/Nk were the grafted treatments eventually transplanted to the field. Growth data were subjected to analysis of variance using SPSS software. Descriptive analyses were performed for the other parameters. The results revealed that, 1) The cleft grafting method used was successful with success rate varying between 90 and 100%;2) Grafting influenced flowering date (DAT, p = 0.05) as well as tomato growth parameters including stem height (H, 1.49 × 10-10 p 0.00014) and collar diameter (SD, 4 × 10-14 p 0.009). The To/To treatment was significantly different from the ungrafted cultivar To, which had no significant difference in stem diameter. A significant difference in plant height was also observed between the ungrafted treatment To and the To/Ko and To/Nk treatments. In addition, only the collar diameter of To/Nk was different from To. Also, there was no significant difference between To/To and To, but a significant difference between To/Ko and To/Nk compared to To. Conversely, grafting improved the lifespan of To/Ko. Ultimately, the grafting method used was successful, but further studies are needed to overcome the problem of graft incompatibility in order to improve the agronomic performance of grafted plants.