Response of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) growth to different phosphorous levels and sowing dates Nasreen Naz a , Ikramullah Khan b, ⁎, Bakhtiar Gul a , Gohar Ayub c , Farooq Jan b , Nawaz Jang d , Muhammad Shuaib e, ⁎ a Department of Weed Science, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan b Department of Botany, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, KP, Pakistan c Department of Horticulture, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan d Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Medical Faculty, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Chenggong Campus, Kunming, Yunnan, China e School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, China abstract article info Article history: Received 31 May 2018 Received in revised form 27 June 2018 Accepted 28 June 2018 Available online xxxx A field trail was carried out at the University of Agriculture Peshawar during spring, 2013 in order to evaluate the effect of different levels of phosphorus fertilizer and various planting times on the growth and development of tomato. The main objective of the research work was to investigate the best sowing time for tomato in combina- tion with suitable dose of P fertilizer in order to get maximum yield of tomato in the climatic conditions of Pesha- war. RCB Design with split plot arrangements was used in the trail. The main factor (phosphorous levels of 0, 90, 110, 130) was allotted to main plots while sowing dates in sub plots. A total twelve treatment were replicated thrice. Maximum days to flowering (39.583 days) and fruiting (46.167 days) obtained in the late sowing. Mini- mum days to flowering (39), minimum days to fruiting (38.778 days) were taken by the early sowing. Maximum number of branches (27.778), maximum fruit length (6.0222), maximum fruit with (6.1667), maximum fruit yield (24.653 tons ha -1 ) was produced when the plot fertilize with 130 kg P ha -1 . Maximum number of fruit plant -1 (29.778) were produced with application of 130 kg P ha -1 , minimum number of fruits (23.667 cm), fruit width (3.778 cm), fruit length (4.3667 cm), plant height (56.300 cm) were obtained from the controlled treatment. Among the various treatment studied in experiment, it is concluded that early planting of the tomato in the summer season i.e. in the start of March and the use of higher dose of P (130 kg P ha -1 ) is very beneficial for the excellent growth, development and yield of tomato crop. © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ecological Society of China. Keywords: Lycopersicon esculentum Mill Growth Phosphorous levels Sowing dates 1. Introduction Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is a solanaceous vegetable grown all over the world. It can tolerate high temperature and low rain fall and is adaptable to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. It is thought to have been brought from America to subcontinents by the European traders in 1955s. Tomato is grown in most of the Asian coun- tries [1]. Due to the increasing popularity and consumption of tomato has achieved the status of the most consumed vegetable of the world [2]. Every year in our country tomatoes are planted on 24,144 ha, pro- ducing 2,75,241 tons of tomato. While on the provincial level it is planted on 4230 ha producing 51,062 tons of tomato annually. Simi- larly, in the valley of Peshawar it is grown on about 944 ha producing 2.978 tons ha -1 (www.pak.gov/division/food). Lack of proper fertilizer application and suitable climatic conditions affect the yield of tomato adversely. Some of the major and minor nutrients are present in the soil while, others are to be supplied as or- ganic and inorganic fertilizers for good production. For enhancing plant growth and development, the use of fertilizers is important which enhance the yield directly by supplying nutrition [3]. Tomato production is affected by various doses of nitrogenous and phosphate fertilizers so it is the need of the day to search and determine the opti- mum dose of these fertilizers for the excellent production of tomato crop [4–6]. Phosphorus plays a vital role in protein and chlorophyll syn- thesis. It is the part of most of the essential compounds required for vital processes of life. P application enhances vegetative as well as reproduc- tive growth of the plant. It enhances the quality, tenderness of green vegetables, pot herbs and feed crops and improves the utilization of N, P, K and other major and minor elements. It is needed in the synthesis of lipids, in the conversion of starch to sugar, reproductive growth of the plants. MSP (mono super phosphate) has been most widely used a P fertilizer for agriculture purposes. DAP (di ammonium phosphate) with 48% P and RP (rock phosphate) with 38% P. Supplying vegetables with organic and inorganic fertilizers was proved very important for higher yield and for enhancing its quality [7]. Commercially tomato Acta Ecologica Sinica xxx (2018) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: ikramws@gmail.com (I. Khan), zeyadz44@yahoo.com (M. Shuaib). CHNAES-00585; No of Pages 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2018.06.004 1872-2032/© 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ecological Society of China. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Acta Ecologica Sinica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chnaes Please cite this article as: N. Naz, et al., Response of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) growth to different phosphorous levels and sowing dates, Acta Ecologica Sinica (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2018.06.004