🍅 Tomato

• Botanical Name: Lycopersicon esculenturn
• Family: Solanaceae
• Origin of tomato: Peru
• Fruit of tomato is Berry
• Basically warm season crop but may be grown in all seasons.
• Tomato is day neutral and self-pollinated plant
• Red colour in tomato due to Lycopine
• Major pest of tomato: Fruit borer (Helicoverpa sp.)
• Tomato susceptible for frost
• A period of drought followed by sudden heavy irrigation during fruiting may cause cracking of fruits.
• Tomato fruits generally regarded as protective food
• In adverse conditions tomato crop is sprayed with PCPA for higher fruit setting.
• Popular variety of tomato: Pusa ruby, Arka vikas
• Punjab chhuhara is determinate variety of tomato.
• Chemical used for tomato sauce preservation: Sodium benzoate.
• BER (blossom end rot) disease of tomato is due to Ca deficiency
• Stalking is done to support the plant. (Tie the stems of tomato plants to the support structure every 6 to 8 inches as they grow.
• In tomato night temperature is more important than day which is 15 to 20 °C.

Seed rate

• For normal: 350-400 g/ha
• For hybrid: 100-150 g/ha

Varieties

• Roma: Suitable for transport and processing
• Pusa ruby: Sioux x Improved Meeruti
• Arka vikas
• Arka rakshak
• Arka sourabh
• Pusa sheetal: Winter season
• Pusa gaurav
• Pusa - 120: Nematode resistant
• SL - 120: Nematode resistant
• Hissar lalit: Nematode resistant
• Parker: Fruit borer (H. armigera) resistant
• Punjab chhuhara and Roma: Suitable for processing
• Flar savr: Delay ripening variety of tomato developed through Biotechnology in 1994 by Calgene Company.

• Arka Apeksha and Arka Vishes are hybrid varieties recently released by IIHR, Bangalore for processing industry. These new varieties are disease resistant and can yield 50 tonnes per hectare. If irrigated by drip irrigation method, it is likely to yield up to 100 tonnes per hectare. Existing hybrid tomatoes give a minimum yield of 40 tonnes per hectare.

Physiological Disorder

Disease

• Blight of tomato: bacterial disease.

  

• It can be managed by use of Copper fungicides i.e. Copper oxychloride @ 3g/liter of water with Bacteromycin @ 0.1 g/liter of water or Mencozeb @ 3g/litre.
• Leaf curl:
  • Virus

    

  • Transmitted by White fly.

Insect

• Fruit borer: Helicoverpa armigera
  • Ideal trap crop for control of fruit borer is Marigold (10 : 1).

    

• White fly: Bemisia tabaci (transmitted leaf curl disease)
• Serpentine leaf minor: Liriomyza trifoli