Assessing the impact of climate change on the growth and yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars in Obudu, northern Cross river state, Nigeria

This research work was carried out to assess the impact of climate change on the growth and yield of tomato varieties cultivated separately in a Greenhouse and in an open field. The design of the experiment was a Randomized Complete Block (CRB) with split plot arrangement. Tomato nurseries of four cultivars (Ibadan Local, Roma, Rotina and Santa Cruz) were prepared separately in the open field and in a Greenhouse. The nursery seedlings in the open field were transplanted after 4 weeks at nursery to prepared beds, while the nurseries in the Greenhouse were transplanted also after 4 weeks at nursery to wooden boxes filled with fertile loamy soil, arranged in 4 rows of 5 per row in a Greenhouse. Each row represented a subplot and there were 4 blocks in the entire plot. The experiment was replicated 3 times. The tomato cultivars were the subplots while the cultivation environments (open field and Greenhouse) were the main plots. All cultural activities were applied in the subplots except in control plots for both open field and Greenhouse. Growth data such as Leaf Area Index, stem girth, and plant height per stand were recorded at 2 weeks after transplanting, while yield data such as number of days to flowering, number of fruits per stand, fruit weight in kg/ha and fruit yield in t/ha were also recorded at 9 and 12 weeks after transplanting. All data generated were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure for split plot experiment using GENSTAT statistical software version 8.1 means were separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% level of probability. It was recommended that farmers should tune their agricultural practices to incorporating a more sustainable climate smart agriculture. While in cultivating tomato, emphases should be on using high yielding cultivars such as Santa Cruz, and Rotina. Extension agents should be trained on climate smart agriculture so that they can in turn assist farmers in adopting the system for mitigating climate change effect.