Effect of mulching and date of transplanting on yield contributing characters of Tomato

Under Punjab conditions, very low night temperature from 15^th December to end of January is detrimental to tomato growth. To protect the crop from low temperature injury, investigations were carried out on tomato cv. Punjab Chhuhara at the Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Agrometeorology and Forestry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The transplanting was done on I^st week of December, 3^rd week of December and I^st week of January during 2002–03 and 2003–04 with four different treatments. Mulches of transparent polythene, black polythene, straw mulch were applied and compared with open. Mulches modified the microclimate by modifying soil temperature, soil moisture and evaporation and this modified microclimate affected the yield contributing characters of tomato. Number of branches, average fruit weight and total yield were maximum under the transparent polythene mulch followed by black polythene, straw mulch and control. Among various dates first date of transplanting increased the branch number, average fruit weight and total yield to maximum extent.