टमाटर/Tomato

 

Production Technology of Tomato

Ø  Common name: Wolf peach, Poor man’s orange, Love of apple, Protective food

Ø  Botanical name - Solanum lycoperscum L.

Ø  Family: Solanaceae

Ø  Order: Solanales

Ø  Origin: South America

Ø  Chromosome number: 2n=2x=24.

Ø  Area: 0.79 mha                                              

Ø  Production: 19.76 mt

Ø  Productivity: 25.0 t/ha

Ø  Tomato ranks third in priority after potato and onion in India but ranks second after potato in the world.

Ø  India has second place in area as well as production in world after China.

Introduction:

Ø  Lycopersicon: Lyco means wolf while persicon means peach i.e., wolf peach.

Ø  Self-pollinated, annual and warm season crop.

Ø  Inflorescence: forked racemose cyme.

Ø  Fruit: multi-seeded berry.

Ø  Types of tomato: -

Mainly tomato plant is characterized by two types on the basis of growth habits:

a.     Determinate type: (i) Inflorescence occurs almost at every internode, (ii) Main axis terminates with a flower cluster, (iii) Self-topping habit, (iv) Suitable for growing in the North Indian plains where growing season is short, (v) Suitable for mechanized harvesting.

b.     Indeterminate type: (i) Inflorescence occurs at every third internode, (ii) Main axis continues growing indefinitely, (ii) Suitable for growing in the hills and South India where favorable climate is available for longer period, (iv) Suitable for growing in the polyhouses.

Ø  Training and pruning are followed in indeterminate type i.e., single stem system.

Importance:

 

Ø  Also universally treated as protective food due to rich source of vitamins and minerals.

Ø  Tomato seed oil (24%) is used for manufacture of margarine.

Ø  Tomato has outstanding vitamin contents like ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin A, Thiamine and Riboflavin, in the order.

Ø  Non-indole auxin: phenyl acetic acid found in tomato

Ø  Fruit aroma is due to sulfonium

Ø  Fruit acidity is due to citric acid

Ø  Tomato is number 1 processing vegetable.

Ø  In India, Nasik and Pune in Maharashtra while Bengaluru in Karnataka are produced export quality tomato.

Pigmentation in tomato:

§  Red color: lycopene' (20-50 mg/100 g of edible portion)

§  Yellow: carotene

§  Tangerine or orange color: prolycopene pigments.

Transgenic cultivar:

ü  Flavr Savr: first transgenic tomato cultivar developed by a company, Calgene (1994) using antisense RNA technology to regulate the expression of polygalacturonase (PG).

ü  Endless Summer: developed by regulating the ACC synthase activity.

 

Climate and soil requirement:

Ø Tomato requires warm season for successful cultivation.

Ø Being a day-neutral plant, it can be grown throughout the year if climate is suitable.

Ø Tomato is susceptible to cold winds and frost.

Ø Flowering, fruit setting, fruit retention, pigmentation and nutritive value of fruits are largely affected by temperature and light intensity.

Ø Flowering and fruit setting are best at a day temperature of 25°C and night temperature of 18°C.

Ø The critical factor in fruit setting of tomato is the night temperature, the optimum being 15-20°C.

Ø 21°C temperature is optimum for pollination.

Ø For fruit color development:

ü  below l0°C- fruits are unable to develop red color.

ü  10-25°C- red and yellow pigment develop.

ü  Above 30°C- red color start to disappear and fruits become yellowish red.

ü  When temperature goes to above 40°C lycopene is completely destroyed.

ü  The optimum temperature for good red color development is 21-24°C.

Ø  Failure of fruit set is due to:

§  1) day temperature > 38 ⁰C and, 2) night temperature <13 ⁰C

Ø  pH of soil is 6.0 to 7.0 are ideal.

Ø  Increasing salinity condition is more favorable for occurrence of BER (blossom end rot) while decreasing puffy fruits occurrence

Manure and fertilizers:

ü  FYM@ 250 q/ha is incorporated at the time of first ploughing.

ü  N:P: K@120:80:50 kg/ha for open pollinated crop

ü  N:P: K@180:150:120 kg/ha for hybrid crop

ü  Foliar application of urea @ 0.4 to 0.5 % is recommended at the time of flowering and fruiting

ü  Apply 20-25 kg/ha of borax at the time of trans-planting to reduce cracking of fruits.

Nursery management:

Ø Total nursery area for tomato is 225 m²

Ø Seeds are sown thinly in rows 6 cm apart and 0.5 cm deep.

Ø Tomato seed germination is inhibited by caffic acid and ferulic acid.

Ø Hardening of transplants can be done by using 0.2% CCC or chromequat.

Ø The seedlings with 5-6 true leaves are transplanted after 30 days.

Ø Seed Rate:

ü Normally 400-500 g seed/ha is sufficient for the spring crop,

ü 1.0-1.2 kg for a summer crop (as mortality of seedlings is high) and,

ü In case of hybrids 150-200g/ha.

Sowing Time:

ü In North India generally two crops, autumn and spring are grown.

ü In the hills only one crop is taken.

ü The appropriate seasons for different parts of the country are given as under.

State region	Sowing	Transplanting	Harvesting
A. Northern plains:      Autumn crop      Spring summer crop B.  Hills: Himanchal Pradesh  Uttarakhand C. Karnataka and Maharashtra	July-August November   March-April May-June October-December	August-September Second fortnight of January April-May July-July November-January	October-December April-May   July-August September-October March-May

 

Ø  Early spring and autumn failure of fruit set in tomato is a common problem in India.

Ø  Normally transplanting should be done in the evening hours.

Spacing:

Ø  Determinate type: 60 x 30 cm

Ø  Indeterminate type: 75 x 30 cm

Irrigation:

Ø  Tomato requires frequent irrigation.

Ø  The drip method is preferred when water is saline.

Ø  During winter, the plants are not irrigated at the time of ripening of fruits as it retards the process of ripening but they are irrigated during summer to promote the process of ripening.

Ø  In case of indeterminate varieties, 2-3 weeks after transplanting staking is done.

 

Growth Regulators:

ü  The foliar application of PCPA (Para-Chloro Phenoxy Acetic Acid) @50-100 ppm at the flowering stage increases the fruit set at low and high temperatures. 

ü  Foliar spray of NAA (Planofix) @10-20 ppm is used widely to improve seedling germination, fruit set, retention and finally the yield of tomato.

ü  The application of cycocel @500 ppm on the plants in the nursery 3-4 days before transplanting and another spray of it at 25- 30 days after transplanting reduces the incidence of the leaf curl disease and increases the early and total yield.

ü  Difolatan@0.2% at 10 days intervals give effective control of post-harvest disease of tomato.

ü  Phosphorus increases the number of flowers in tomato.

Harvesting:

The time of harvesting depends upon the purpose and distance from the market. Tomato fruits can be harvested on the following stages:

ü Green stage: Fully mature green fruits are harvested to get more price of the produce at early stage.

ü Breaker or turning stage (10 % lycopene content): The fruits are harvested when 1/4 blossom end of the fruit show pink colour. This is suitable lo send the fruits to long distances.

ü Pink stage: When 3/4 of the surface towards blossom end shows pink colour. These fruits can be used to sale in the local market as well as to send distant markets.

ü Ripe stages: When entire fruit develop pink or red colour but fruits are still firm. This stage is suitable for table or salad purpose and to sale at farmer's field.

ü Over ripe stage: When fruits attain maximum colour and became soft. Such fruits are suitable for processing purposes.

Ø  Assessment of fruit firmness by the use of Durometer, whereas colorimeter is used for lycopene content.

Yield:

ü  Improved pure lines: 300- 350 q/ha, and

ü  Hybrids 500-600 q/ha.

ü  The indeterminate varieties produce more yield than determinate ones.

ü  1 kg tomato fruit may yield 2.5-4 g seeds.

Ø  Seed yield: 100-120 kg/ha

Ø  Seed quality is very good when harvested at pink stage.

Ø  Hybrid seed yield:

ü  Determinate type: 40-50 kg/ha

ü  Indeterminate type: 70-80 kg/ha

Seed extraction:

ü  Alkali treatment (washing soda@10%): best method

ü  Acid treatment: HCL@250ml/10 L of slurry for 10 minuts.

Processing:

ü  BIS has specified 4 grades i.e., Super A, Super, Fancy, Commercial

ü  For processing purpose, pH of juice should be 4.5 and citric acid content of 0.35 % is ideal.

ü  Processed product of tomato; puree and paste have great demand in export.

ü  Varieties suitable for processing purpose: Roma, S-152, Pusa Sheetal, Arka Asheesh, Pant Bahar, Melka Shola, NDT-120.

 

 

Important varieties of tomato for biotic and abiotic stresses:

Abiotic stress tolerant:

ü  Pusa Sheetal: for low temperature region (up to 8°C)

ü  Pusa Hybrid 1: suitable for higher temperature

ü  Pusa Sadabahar: Suitable for high and low temperature

ü  Arka Meghali: Suitable for rainfed condition

ü  Arka Vikas: suitable for drought condition

Biotic stress resistant: 

Ø  Arka Vardan is resistant to Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt.

Ø  Hisar Lalit and Sel-120 is resistant to root knot nematode.     

Ø  H-24 (Hisar Anmol) and H-36 (Hisar Gaurav) are resistant to leaf curl viral disease.

Ø  PKM-1: drought tolerant varieties and suitable for distant transport. Green flesh variety.

Ø  Sierra Sweet: resistant to fusarium wilt (race I), verticillium wilt,

 

 

Disease and insect pest of tomato:

 

Diseases		Causal organism/vector	Remarks
Fungal disease
Damping off		Pythium aphanidermatum, Rhizoctonia sp., Fusarium sp., Phytophthora parasitica	It causes damage both at pre-and post- emergence of seedling
Early blight		Alternaria solani	Favorable temperature: 18-30oC
Late blight		Phytophthora infestans	Most devastating disease. Favourable conditions: Low temperature (10-200C) with high relative humidity (85%)
Buck eye rot or fruit rot		Phytophthora nicotianae var. parasitica	18oC.
Fusarium wilt		Fusarium oxysporum f. lycopersici	Resistant varieties: Marglobe, Rutgers, Pritchard, Manalucie.
Bacterial Disease
Bacterial wilt		Pseudomonas solanacearum	Resistant varieties: Arka Alok, Arka Abhijit, Arka Abha
Bacteriakl canker		Corynebacterium michiganense	Major constraint for seed production
Mycoplasmal Disease: Big bud		Vector- leaf hopper	-
Viral diseases
Leaf curl		Vector- whitefly
Tomato yellow leaf curl (TYLCV)		Vector- whitefly. Most severe in autumn season. 99% loss occurring due to this.	Ty-2 gene is commercially used in India. Source: S. habrochaits
Tomato Spotted wilt virus (TSWV)		Vector- thrips	Source- S. peruvianum (SW-5 gene))
Mosaic		Seed transmitted
Fern leaf		Aphids
Nematode
Root knot nematode		Meloidogyne incognita	Resistant varieties: Pusa 120, Hisar Lalit, Nematax, Anahu, Atkisen, VNF-8
Insect pest
Fruit borer	Helicoverpa armigera		Most common occurring pests of tomato
Jassids	Empoasca devastans
Hadda beetle	Epilachna vegintioctopunctata
Tobacco caterpillar	Spodoptera litura
White fly	Bemisia tabaci		Vector of leaf curl virus
Aphid			Vector of fern leaf virus
Thrips	Thrips tabaci		Vector of TSWV
Serpentine leaf minor	Liriomyza trifoli		-
Tomato leaf minor	Tuta absulata		Alternative host- common bean

 

Ø  Favorable conditions for disease spreading:

ü  Late blight- 10-12 ⁰C & 80 % RH

ü  Early blight- 18-30 ⁰C

ü  Buckeye rot- 18⁰C

Ø  Bacterial blight (Pseudomonas solanacerum) is serious disease of tomato in tropical humid climate (Southern and eastern state)

Ø  Month wise availability of tomato in India:

Period of harvest	Areas
January-March	Bihar, Eastern UP, MP, Odisa, foot hills of Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh
April- May	Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Western UP
June-July	HP, Uttarakhand, TN, Punjab, Gujrat
August- September	Andhra Pradesh, HP, UK, MH, Gujrat
October-November	Chhattisgarh, TN
December	Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP, Odisa