Heat tolerance in field grown tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) under semi-arid conditions of west Africa

Abstract

One major reason for extremely low production of tomato in Ghana is that the length of the growing season last only for a few months due to the high temperature influx during the remaining months. The temperatures recorded during these months are above the optimum for tomato flowering and fruiting and this consequently affects yield. To solve this problem a number management practices may be undertaken such has growing heat tolerant tomato varieties or providing shade to mitigate the devastating effect of high temperatures. Therefore the present study was conducted outside the normal growing season from June to October, which has a mean temperature of 23°C. Heat tolerant tomato cultivars were grown from April to July with a mean temperature of 25°C to evaluate their performance under these conditions and to assess the effect of shading on the production of one of the genotypes. Fruiting percentage was significantly lower in exotic hybrids compared to a local variety. Different genotypes showed no differences in the production of viable pollen. Shading decreased final shoot and root biomass by 67 and 47%, respectively, whiles fruit yield was not affected. Also among cultivars yields were similar.