Abstract

Nine tomato cultivars comprising Tropimech T1 Carl J T2 Peto 86 T3 Roma T4 UC82B T5 Chibli T6 Heinz T7 NI T8 and RIO T9 were evaluated for energy use efficiency economic analysis residue deposits agronomic efficiency nutrient tolerance and yield performance under four fertilizer rates The trial was conducted at the Kadawa irrigation site of Kano State altitude 476 2m Lat 11 550N and Long 8 380E Nursery sowing and transplanting were carried out on 10 November 2015 at a minimum temperature of 160C and on 22 December 2015 at a minimum temperature of 13 40C Fertilizer treatment was applied at 0 170 200 230 and 260 kgha-1 20-10-10 respectively under the basin size of 25m2 and 0 5m x 0 5m spacing Irrigation water was supplied evenly at the flow rate of 11 m3hr-1 using 3 diameter pressurized rubber tube at an average discharge rate of 10 87 m3-hr Results obtained indicated that the total energy budget for the production of the nine cultivars was 112 180 55 MJha-1 with fertilizer accounting for about 41 2 of the energy input Energy use efficiency was however low showing inefficient us of energy in tomato production typical of Nigerian system T2 T4 T5 T6 and T7 recorded agronomic efficiency of 8 05 14 10 2 38 4 53 and 13 96 with a corresponding yield performance of 20 6 24 8 19 4 20 1 and 24 4 tha-1 respectively Residue deposits were significantly more pronounced with T4 T7 T9 T3 and T2 possibly suggesting cultivars with higher concentration of ethanol than others at 7 88 tha-1 5 99 tha-1 4 85 tha-1 4 75 tha-1 and 4 62 tha-1 respectively The highest nutrient limited tolerance index TOLN was observed in T4 followed by T7 T6 and T5 revealing the cultivars with the possibility of early segregation although displaying the characteristics of initial better yield performance in contrast to T2 with more stable traits as observed in low TOLN with higher yield at both optimal and limited fertilizer rat