The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the performance of tomato in polyhouse with drip and mulch at AICRP on Plasticulture Engineering and Technologies experimental field of College of Agricultural Engineering and Post-Harvest Technology (CAEPHT), Central Agricultural University (CAU), Ranipool, Sikkim, India. The experiment comprised of three treatments [viz. T1: Drip with no mulch, T2: Drip with mulch, and T3: No drip no mulch (control)] with four replications following Randomized Block Design (RBD). Black low density poly ethylene (LDPE) sheets of 50 micron thickness were used as mulch. The plant growth, yield and WUE were significantly affected by T2 as compared to T1 and T3 inside polyhouse. The maximum number of leaves (, and ) and tallest plant (, and cm), respectively at 30, 60 and 90 DAT was observed in T2. Similar trend in yield attributes, the highest yield/ plant (1548 g) and yield/ m2 (3490 g) was observed in T2, although at par with T1. The use of drip in combination with mulching, not only increased the yield but also saving irrigation water (62%) as compared to conventional method with highest WUE ( kg m -3 ). The study thus reveals that drip irrigation with mulch give better water use efficiency, increased yield and thereby achieving the prime objective of ‘more crop per drop’. | Effect of drip and mulch on growth, yield and WUE of tomato under low cost polyhouse in sikkim condition
