Effect of Weed Management Practices on Tomato Yield Parameters, Yield and Soil Microbial Population

A field experiment was carried out at farmer’s field, Mudhalipalayam, Coimbatore during kharif 2019 to evaluate the effect of different weed management practices on organic tomato yield and soil microbial population. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replication and twelve treatments. Microbial count were recorded at 30, 60 and 90 DAT. The study revealed that the higher microbial population viz., fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes recorded under application of weed compost @ 5 t/ha during last ploughing + one hand weeding at 30 DAT followed by mulching with dried mango leaves 5 tonnes/ha + one hand weeding at 45 DAT and lowest was observed in unweeded check. The study also showed that mulching with dried mango leaves @ 5 tonnes/ha + one hand weeding at 45 DAT recorded higher no of fruits plant-1(26.4), fruit weight (g) (79.0) and yield (77.34 tonnes ha-1) and lowest was observed in unweeded check.