CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) is one of the most important vegetable plants in the

world. It originated in western South America, and domestication is thought to have occurred in

Central America. Because of its importance as food, tomato has been bred to improve

productivity, fruit quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Tomato has been widely

used not only as food, but also as research material. The tomato plant has many interesting

features such as fleshy fruit, a sympodial shoot, and compound leaves, which other model plants

(e.g., rice and Arabidopsis) do not have. In addition, the tomato belongs to the extremely large

family Solanaceae and is closely related to many commercially important plants such as potato,

eggplant, peppers, tobacco, and petunias. Knowledge obtained from studies conducted on tomato

can be easily applied to these plants, which makes tomato important research material. Because of

these facts, tomato serves as a model organism for the family Solanaceae and, specifically, for

fleshy-fruited plants (Kimura &Sinha, 2008).

Tomato is ranked at the top of all fruits and vegetables as a source of vitamins and

minerals in the U.S. Tomato plays a major role in human nutrition. It is an excellent source of

phosphorus, iron and vitamin A, B and C. As a vegetable it constitutes an important component in

man’s diet, especially in developing countries. However, per capita consumption of vegetables in

developed countries tends to be higher than in developing countries, possibly because people in

developed countries have a better appreciation of the nutritional value of vegetable crops .World

tomato production in 2001 was about 105 million tons of fresh fruits on an estimated 3.9 million

hectares of land. As it is relatively a short duration crop and gives a high yield, it is economically

attractive and the area under cultivation is increasing(Naika et al., 2005).

 2

In this research, the researchers will determine if incandescent light is capable in growing

the tomato plant. Many people can apply this study inside their house, especially those

housewives that want to plant indoors. In this generation, millennials are likely to stay inside their

house. With this study they can apply it so that they can help their parents in planting vegetables.

And lastly they don’t need to sweat their selves under the sunlight just to plant a tomato because

they can do it inside their house.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of Incandescent light to the growth

of Tomato plant. Specifically, this study aims to:

a. Compare the growth of Tomato plant using artificial light to the growth when exposed to

natural light/sunlight.

b. Determine the color of its leaves; and

c. Determine how many days the Tomato plant grow.

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis: That the mean height, color of leaves and the number of days of Tomato plant

in Incandescent lightdo not differ significantly to the mean height, color of leaves and the number

of days of Tomato plant in Sunlight.

Alternative Hypothesis: That the mean height, color of leaves and the number of days of

Tomato plant in Incandescent light has a significant difference between the mean height of

Tomato plant in Sunlight.

Conceptual Framework
 3

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

 Tomato plant  Height

 Incandescent Light  Color of leaves
 Sunlight  Days the plant will
grow

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

The figure 1 represents the conceptual framework where independent and dependent

variables are stated. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables is the

dependent variables will depend to independent variables in accordance to get the results.

The tomato plant is the test subject of the study which serves as the basis to get results.

For the researchers to determine the effectiveness of the tomato plant in incandescent light, the

researchers will get the height, color of leaves and the days the plant will grow. The same

procedure will be done in sunlight. The researchers will correlate the results of tomato plant that

uses incandescent light and the tomato plant that uses sunlight, so that the researchers will be able

to determine if there is a significant difference between the two variables.

Significance of the Study

In this research, the researchers are expecting that they can achieve more information to

gain more knowledge. This research can lead the researchers in terms of growing Tomato plant

using Incandescent Light. Like for example:Tomato plant is an excellent source of phosphorus,

iron and vitamin A, B and C. As a vegetable it constitutes an important component in man’s diet,

especially in developing countries. The tomato plant can benefit the following also:
 4

Common housewives - they usually like gardening inside their house and they can benefit from

this study. They can make it possible to grow healthy plants in any spot in the house as long as it

has an artificial source of light.

Gardeners-it could help also gardeners to make their plants grow healthier and flower

abundantly by supplementing artificial lights.

Businessmen - more specifically flower shop owners could introduce artificial lighting to their

gardens to enhance growth.

Farmers -they could apply artificial lighting in their farms which could help them produce better

rice, crops, fruits, vegetables and etc.

Students – they can also benefit in this study like knowing the nutrients that they can get if they

plant Tomatoes in their houses. Tomatoes can also help them in terms of proper nutrition diet and

also they will know that it is possible to plant a tomato using incandescent light as the sunlight of

the plant.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study generally will focus on the effectiveness of Incandescent light to the growth of the

Tomato plant. The height of the plant as well as its color will be determined as manifestation of

growth. The days for the plants to grow using artificial light will also be determined.

This study will be conducted at Mr. and Mrs. Nio’sresidence, Poblacion, President Roxas,

Cotabato on January to March 2018.

Operational Definition of Terms

 5

Alternative it is the other option of light that will use to

grow the tomato plant.

Artificial it refers to the incandescent light that will be

used instead of sunlight.

Effect is a change that results when the tomato plant

grows using the artificial light.

Height it is the growth that will be measured if the

tomato plant grow.

Incandescent Light Bulb it is the artificial light that will use to identify

the growth of the tomato plant.

Solanaceae it is the family name of the tomato plant.

Tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) it is the test subject of the experiment. It will use

to determine if artificial light can affect its

growth.

Sunlight it is the other light that will be used to grow the

tomato plant and compare to artificial light.

6