Impact of Sodium Azide on the Growth and Development of Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) in Gombe, Nigeria

Abstract

Induced mutagenesis is one of the most effective strategies for particular enhancement without altering the well-optimized inheritable background of the factory cultivars. This research project therefore investigates the impacts of Sodium Azide Induced Mutation on three varieties of tomatoes for inducing variability. Different concentrations of Sodium Azide such as 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04 g were applied to induce variability and the result showed that the tomato species responded differently to the increase in Sodium Azide concentrations. Overall, the concentrations 0.02 and 0.03g Sodium Azide concentration were found to be effective for inducing vegetative leaves, and fruiting, in Rio Grande, followed by 0.04 and 0.01g in Tandilo and UC 82. In terms of plant dry matter production, Sodium Azide concentration of 0.04g was found to be effective in Tandilo (3.83), followed by Rio grande (3.56) and least which is UC 82 (3.53) respectively. For a study on the number of seed production, 0.02g was found to produce the highest number of seeds (84) while the least was 0.04g with 71 seeds. pH values of the different varieties of tomatoes do not show much difference across different concentrations of Sodium Azide. The result of this study has demonstrated that the employment of Sodium Azide could be beneficial for the enhancement of tomato quality and yield for improving large-scale sustainable tomato production across the globe.