EFFECTS OF PREHARVEST TREATMENTS ON YIELD AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF TOMATO

Postharvest losses in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) are among others, the prime factor affecting the quantity and quality of tomato fruits in the market. Options to avert these losses are limited, and thus the need to design research studies that are geared to developing such strategies. A field experiment was therefore conducted to study effects of preharvest treatment of ComCat® spray, manure, NP fertilisation and the combinations of ComCat® with the two forms of fertilisation and the control on yield and quality of tomato in semi-arid climate in eastern part of Ethiopia. The experiment was conducted using randomised complete block design with 3 replications. Data were collected from two centeral rows of treatment plots to assess vegetative growth, yield and the chemical composition of fruits at harvest. The result showed that the use of ComCat® and its combination with manure gave the highest total yield 58.53 tha^-1 and 55.77tha^-1 of which 94% and 93% were marketable and total yield, respectively. By using manure and NP fertiliser it was observed that both marketable and total yield was not significantly influenced. The control tomato plants were found to give higher total and marketable yield on comparison with the preharvest ComCat® + NP treatment. The chemical qualities of tomatoes were improved by preharvest ComCat®, ComCat® + manure and ComCat® = NP treatments. Based on the varied performance of the treatements imposed, adoption of a particular teatment will depend on a specific recommendation dormain.