Evaluation of Growth Performance of Tomato in Response to Biochar and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (Amf) Inoculation

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted in 2013 and 2014 to evaluate growth performance of two tomato genotypes in response to biochar application and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) inoculation at the Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. The experiment was laid out in a split-split plot design with two tomato genotypes in the main plots, five levels of biochar application in the sub plots and two levels of AMF inoculation in the sub-sub plots. Data on plant height number of leaves and dry matter yields were generated and subjected to analysis of variance and significant means separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at 5 % level of significance. The result shows that mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased (p< 0.05) the shoot dry matter yield (2935.8 kg ha^-1) when compared with non-mycorrhizal plants, there is no significant difference in number of leaves, height and root dry matter yield. Application of 20 t ha^-1 of biochar significantly increased (p< 0.05) the shoot dry matter yields and plant height while no significant differences were observed in number of leaves and root dry matter yield. From the results obtained it can be concluded that AMF can successfully be inoculated into biochar amended soil to improve the performance of tomato plant.

Keywords: Biochar; AMF; inoculation; tomato; growth performance.