Isiaka, KareemIlerioluwa, O.I.Yusuf, S.Y.Lawal, Mujidat TemidayoAbdulkareem, K.A.Olayinka, B.U.2023-06-222023-06-2220222682-5821https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/20.500.12484/11263Despite the importance of tomato in human nutrition, occurrence of drought stress constitutes a major bane to its bountiful production. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of organic mulch in improving growth, yield and quality of water stressed tomato. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The six treatments used in the experiment were normal irrigation with zero mulch, drought stress with zero mulch and drought stress with mulch at the rates of 10tons/ha, 15tons/ha, 20tons/ha and 25tons/ha. The organic mulch material used was maize husk and the tomato variety tested was Platinum 107 F1. Water deficit treatment was imposed at flowering stage (five weeks after transplanting (5WAT)) by applying 50% field capacity as irrigation water. Data were collected on plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, number of flowers per plant and mass of fruit yield per plant. Furthermore, leaf proximate compositions (crude fat, crude protein, crude fibre, ash content and dry matter) and leaf chlorophyll content were determined. All the data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and significant means were separated using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. Results from this research work showed that stressed plants without mulch application had a drastic reduction in all the measured parameters. The plants subjected to drought and treated with 20tons/ha mulch showed higher plant height, number of branches and yield as well as chlorophyll, fiber and ash content compared to the plants treated with 10tons/ha, 15tons/ha and 25t/ha mulch. It is, therefore, concluded that 20tons/ha mulch be used for alleviating drought stress condition in Platinum 107 F1 tomato variety in the study area when all the conditions in this research are maintained.enTomato, water stress, organic mulch, stress alleviation, proximate composition, growth and yieldArticle