Quality of farmer-saved tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) seeds and its effect on fruit yield in Ghana
Loading...
Date
May, 2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
A field survey was conducted in 2008/2009 cropping season in five agro-ecological zones comprising twenty-nine communities to assess the quality of farmer-saved tomato seeds and its effect on the fruit yield levels in Ghana. Laboratory and field experiment were carried out at the Seed and Pathology laboratories of CSIR-Crops Research Institute, (Fumesua) and Department of Horticulture, KNUST, Kumasi, from 2nd May 2009 to 2nd February 2010. Majority of smallholder farmers in Ghana (52%) saved their own seed for planting. None of the farmers followed proper storage practices for the seeds which were stored under ambient conditions in plastic bins, black polyethylene bags, clay pots, paper bags and pieces of cloth, which were not treated against insect-pests. Except for seed from the forest zone, however, the storage practices had little or no influence on the quality of seeds assessed. The percent pure seed component, vigour and germination were high, ranging from 68.5 to 98%. The study also revealed that none of the seed samples was free from seed-borne pathogenic and saprophytic fungi. The seeds were mainly were infected with eight fungi comprising five pathogenic and three saprophytes, which varied significantly depending on location. The most prevalent seed-borne pathogenic fungi were Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium oxysporum and Curvularia lunata. Saved seeds from the Transition zone had the highest incidence of pathogenic fungi (56%) while the Guinea savanna zone had the least (20.4%), a situation attributable to the storage structures and practices employed in the different zones. Field studies on performance also revealed a positive but not significant correlation (r = 0.64) between percent seed vigor and fruit yield.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, KNUST, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of a M.Sc. (HONS) degree in Seed Science and Technology on May.