Effect of Drip Irrigation and Mulching on Yield Attributes and Productivity of Tomato in Western Rajasthan

An On Farm Trial (OFT) on tomato crop was conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Nagaur-I during two consecutive years in rabi 2022–23 and rabi 2023–24 to study the “Effect of drip irrigation and mulching on yield, production and productivity of tomato”. The trial was carried out in — Pitholao, Dolatpura and Athiyasan villages of Nagaur district of Rajasthan. For the study, two-hectare area was selected with the involvement of 10 farmers. The OFT was conducted with two treatments in which one was local check (cultivation tomato without drip and mulching) and second was cultivation of tomato with drip irrigation and mulching with full package of practices. The results demonstrated that drip irrigation and mulching (black polythene mulch) significantly increase plant growth, yield and productivity. The fruit yield (463.43 q/ha) of the demonstration plots was noted higher (40.56%) over the yield (330.50 q/ha) of check plots. The technology gap and extension gap were 287 q/ha and 132.9 q/ha. respectively. Moreover, by the use of drip irrigation and mulching farmers profited with a net income of Rs. 571394.3 per hectare.