EFFECTS OF SOURCES AND RATES OF ORGANIC MANURE AND NPK ON FRUIT YIELD OF TOMATO(Solanum lycopersicum L.) AND PLANT PARASITIC NEMATODES POPULATION

Field trials were carried out during the 2008/09 and 2009/2010 dry seasons at the Irrigation Research Station, Kadawa in the Sudan Savanna Zone of Nigeria to study the effect of source and rate of organic manure and NPK on fruit yield of tomato and plant parasitic nematodes population.  There were thirty six treatments made up of factorial combinations of three  sources of organic manure; urban waste, neem based and poultry manure each at three  levels (50, 100 and 150 kg N ha -1 equivalent) and four  levels of in organic compound  fertilizer NPK (0, 150, 300 and 450 kg ha -1 ).  The treatments were laid out in a split plot design replicated three times.  The combination of manure sources and manure rates were assigned to the main plots while inorganic fertilizer rates were assigned to the sub plots.  Results revealed that application of poultry manure at the rateof 150 kg N ha -1 equivalent and 450 kg ha -1 NPK gave the highest total fruit yield, while application of neem based manure recorded the least nematode population than the other manure sources.