Diseases of Tomato and Farmer awareness in the Edo/Delta Tomato growing areas of Nigeria

Abstract

A survey was carried out in the Edo/Delta region for the identification of prevalent tomato diseases. Five villages were surveyed in 2 local government areas. In Etsako East in Edo state the villages were Afokpella, Okpella and Ogiriga and in Delta state Ika North local government area covering two villages Ekwuoma and Igbodo. In total one hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered. Result from the evaluation of the questionnaires showed that most of the farmers were between the age of 25-55 (92.5%) and of the respondents 60.8% were males. The most planted tomato cultivar was the roma V.F. Respondents identified fruit rot and tomato blossom end rot as the most and least occurring diseases on their fruits. Damping-off diseases, Bacterial speck, wilts, were the three highest ranking vascular diseases observed by respondents in their fields. Soil samples collected from respondents farms were analysed and from Ogiriga: colony forming units per gram of soil was 2x10 and 1x10 for Fusariumoxysporum and Pseudomonas solanacearum respectively The microbial count for P. solanacearum from Afokkpella Ekwuoma and Igbodo were 9.3x10 cfu/g; 2x10 cfu/g and 8.3x10 cfu/g respectively.