Abstract:
Tomato production in Ethiopia is mostly practiced during the off season using irrigation.
During the rainy season, its production is limited due to high incidence of fungal diseases.
The market supply of tomatoes during the rainy season is therefore limited and drives the
prices to unaffordable high level. Recently, however, smallholder farmers are using
Polyhouse technology that protects tomatoes from rain and thus reduces the incidence of
diseases, especially that of late blight. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Koga
Irrigation Scheme to evaluate the growth and yield performance of hybrid tomato varieties
and economics of polyhouse structures during the rainy season. Accordingly, three hybrid
tomato varieties (Galilea, Gabbi and Galilea-39) were grown under polyhouse during the
2022 rainy season in four replications at Koga Irrigation Scheme, which were arranged in
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Data on growth, phenology, yield and quality
parameters of tomato were collected and analyzed using the SAS-9.4 software. According to
the results significant differences among the three hybrid tomato varieties were observed for
most of the growth parameters and yield components in each location. Gabbi variety
recorded the tallest plant height (174.84-180.54 cm),more number of primary branches (8.91-
9.72) and secondary branches (17.30-19.32), the highest number of flower cluster (29.75-
34.45), flower per cluster (6.86-7.36), fruit per cluster (5.29-6.01), fruit set percentage
(72.64-84.10%), marketable yield (90.75-103.07t/ha) and total yield (92.20-104.31 t/ha) in all
locations except in Kudmi. Combined over locations Gabbi variety recorded the tallest plant
height (174.63 cm), more number of primary branches (8.60) and secondary branches
(17.61), the highest number of flower clusters per plant (29.17), number of flowers (6.68) and
number of fruits per cluster (5.00), the longest fruit length (6.83cm), the highest marketable
yield (89.11 t/ha) and total fruit yield (90.32 t/ha).Financial feasibility of the polyhouse also
showed that net present value of producing tomatoes in the polyhouse with 18% discount rate
was non-negative (4,135.27ETB per 140m2
area); the benefit to cost ratio was 1.25 and the
internal rate of return was 24% at 18% interest rate. Accordingly, the production of tomato
in a polyhouse structure is highly feasible and profitable where the variety Gabbi could be
recommended for the production of tomato at Koga Irrigation Scheme and similar agroecology. Further researches on fertilizer optimization and disease and insect pest
management options are suggested.