Author(s):

Gottam Kishore, B Maheswara Babu, Kavita Kandpal, U Satishkumar, MS Ayyangowdar

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of colour plastic mulches on plant height, number of branches per plant, days to fifty per cent flowering, leaf area index (LAI) under different irrigation levels of drip irrigation in combination with plastic colour mulches. The treatments were laid out in split plot design with three replications and a non-mulched treatment as control. The plastic coloured mulches used were white on black, silver on black and black. The irrigation levels used were 60, 80, 100 and 120 per cent ET. The results indicated that soil temperature increased under the various coloured plastic mulches about 2 to 5°C more as compared to bare soil. Growth components of tomato such as plant height, number of branches per plant, days to fifty per cent flowering and leaf area index were significantly influenced by drip irrigation levels and plastic colour mulches. The maximum plant height (94.15 cm), number of branches per plant (19.17), least days to 50 per cent flowering (43.67 days) and highest leaf area index (2.85) were recorded under drip irrigation at 80 per cent ET with white on black plastic colour mulch as compared to other treatments in the experiment.

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