Quality of produced seedlings relies mainly on the substrate on which it grows and develops. An experiment was carried out employing a completely randomized block design with 19 treatments and three replications to examine effect of different substrates on seed germination and seedling growth of tomato in greenhouse and screen house. Results showed following substrates; rice husks, burnt sawdust, mixture of sawdust and rice husks, soil, mixture of soil and rice husks, mixture of soil and sawdust, mixture of soil, burnt sawdust and burnt rice husks performed well in tomato seedling emergence (above 70%) at 10 days after sowing in screen house. In contrast, burnt rice husks only achieved over 70% seedling germination at 14 days after sowing in greenhouse. Maximum seedling height, stem diameter, number of leaves, flesh and dry weights of leaves, roots and stems were observed in tomato seedlings planted in a mixture of soil and burnt rice husks. This research shows that temperature has an effect on the germination start day, average germination speed and vigor. There was improved germination in seedlings raised in screen house than those raised in greenhouse; however, seedlings growing in greenhouse grew vigorously than those grown in screen house.

Keywords: tomato, substrate, rice husks, sawdust, burnt, germination, seedling, morphological