Effect of tomato stem bending on vegetative growth, root development and yield performance.
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Date
2026
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Busitema University
Abstract
Effect of tomato stem bending on vegetative growth, root development and yield performance.
Improving tomato productivity through simple, affordable and sustainable crop management practices remains a major challenge in horticulture, particularly for smallholder farming systems. Although tomato stems naturally possess the ability to produce adventitious roots when buried, the agronomic potential of stem bending at different heights has received limited scientific attention. This study evaluated the effect of stem bending at different heights on vegetative growth, root development, flowering characteristics and yield performance under greenhouse conditions. A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments (control, stem bending at 15, 20 and 30 cm) and three replications was used over two experimental periods under greenhouse conditions. Data were collected on vegetative growth, root development, flowering characteristics and yield components, and analyzed using analysis of variances (ANOVA), while treatment means were separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at p<0.05. Stem bending significantly (p<0.001) improved nearly all measured parameters. The 30 cm stem bending treatment increased the chlorophyll content by 52.21 SPAD units, and leaf area index from 3.62 to 8.73 in both first and second experimental periods. It stimulated extensive adventitious root formation, from 0 to 269.50 roots in experimental period 1 and from 0 to 345.50 roots in experimental period 2, while root length increased from 12.37 to 15.66 cm and 13.05 to 16.56 cm, respectively. The flower production increasing 32.7 to 55.33 and 33.29 to 61.01 flowers per plant, accompanied by flower retention of 68.15% to 86.22%. The 30 cm treatment produced 126.02 fruits per plant with a fruit weight of 90.92 g, total fruit weight of 11.458 kg per plant, and marketable yields of 191.0 t ha-1 and 179.5 t ha-1 across the two experimental periods as compared to control that produced 80.33 fruits per plant with fruit weight of 74.49g, total fruit weight of 6.447kg per plant, and marketable yields of 110.1 ha-1 and 107.5 ha-1 across the two experimental periods. Taken together, the 30 cm stem bending treatment improves root development, vegetative growth and marketable yield of tomato. I recommend further trials using different tomato varieties to stem bending and evaluate stem bending under open field.
Key words: Adventitious roots, PADMA F1, Height, Green house, Yield.
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Undergraduate research report
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Citation
Manyira, E. (2026). Effect of tomato stem bending on vegetative growth, root development and yield performance. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.