Hormonal efficiency and net return of BARI Tomato-4 enhanced under polytunnels during rainy summer season

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the department of Horticulture, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh to evaluate the benefit cost ratio of summer tomato variety BARI tomato 4. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design with 18 treatments and three replications by maintaining a spacing of 60 cm x 40 cm. It comprised of two cultivation method as main plot viz. Open cultivation (P₀) and Cultivation under poly tunnel (P₁) and nine levels of growth regulators as sub-plot viz. T_{0 (}Control), T₁ (GA₃@30 ppm), T₂ (GA₃@60 ppm), T₃ (NAA @30 ppm), T₄ (NAA @60 ppm), T₅ (MH @30 ppm), T₆ (MH @60 ppm), T₇ (Tomatotone @30 ppm) and T₈ (Tomatotone @60 ppm). Application of growth regulators was influenced in all studied parameters over control. Majority of the parameters responded better with the increased concentration of growth regulators. Tomatotone @ 60 ppm gave the highest yield per hectare (5.38 and 20.82 t) under open and poly tunnel condition, respectively. In open and poly tunnel condition, tomatotone @ 60 ppm showed the highest profitability and benefit cost ratio 1.16: 3.19, respectively. Despite of poly tunnel was being costly to establish (41% of total input cost), but it gave 3-4 times higher economic return. Higher values in respect of economy were obtained from the plants cultivated under poly tunnel with tomatotone @60 ppm. Therefore, tomatotone @ 60 ppm can be used as potential treatment for summer tomato cultivation under open and poly tunnel conditions to get highest profitability.