PLANT DENSITY EFFECTS ON PROCESSING TOMATO GROWN IN MOROCCO

Three different plant densities of two processing tomato cultivars (Heinz 1370 and Rio Grande) were compared during two seasons in a sandy loam soil located at 17 km south-east of Agadir, Morocco. The distance between single seed lines was 1.3 m and the distance between clumps in the seed line was 0.25 m. Tomato plants were thinned at the second true-leaf stage, to one, two or three plants per clump for a desired final plant density of 30400, 60800 and 91200 plants ha^-1, respectively. When plant density increased, the number of clusters per m² increased significantly with no difference between cultivars. However, the fruit set percentage decreased from the first to the third cluster when plant density increased. Rio Grande had a higher fruit set percentage than Heinz 1370. Compared to the control (30400 plants ha^-1), the highest plant density increased the yield by 40% without significant difference between cultivars. High early yield was obtained in the Rio Grande cv under high plant density. The mean fruit weight decreased when the plant density increased.