Tomato Cultivation & Seed Production Technology

Tomato

Common Name: Wolf Apple, Vilayati Baigan.
Botanical Name: Lycopersicon esculentum

Family: Solanaceae

Chromosome No. 24

Origin: South America

Climate and Soil: 

Tomato is a warm season crop and requires a relatively long growing season with plenty of sunshine and moderate day temperature of 22-28°C. It is sensitive to frost. Under low temperature, the plant growth is restricted and fruit setting is low.

The critical factor in the setting of fruits is the night temperature the optimum range being 15 20°C. Lycopene is responsible for red pigment in the fruit will develop only when the temperature is between 21°C-24°C. 30 range of temperature, only the yellow pigment formed

Tomato can be grown in all types of soils, it grows best in light soils ranging from sandy loam to loam. PH 5.6 to 6.5.

Photoperiod: Tomato is  Day neutral and C3 crop

Varieties:-

A) Introduction:

1. Roma  2.Labonita  3.Sioux  4.Marvel  5.Best of all  6.Money maker  7.Tip Top  8.Ageti.

B) Selection:

1.Arka Sourabh  2.Sonali 3.Pant bahar  4.Improved meeruti  5.Arka Vikas.

C) Hybrid:

1. Pusa ruby- Sioux×Improved meeruti- Best combiner variety.

2. Pusa early dwarf- Improved meeruti×Red cloud.

3. Pusa Gaurav- Glamour×Watch

4. Marglobe- Marvel×Globa

5. Pusa red plum- L. esculentum×L. pimphirifolium.

6. Sweet 72- Pusa red plum×Sioux

D) Mutant:

1. S-12   2. Maruthan  3. Pusa lal meeruti  4.PKM-1

Seed rate : Seed rate is 125-175gm/hac

Sowing: 
3-4 weeks suitable for transplanting. For winter planting, sowing should be done in October and transplanting in November, December. However, dwarf varieties can be successfully and economically covered with polythene bags of 35 cm x 25 cm size and of 100- gauge thickness.

Transplanting:
The transplanting of tomato can also be done in February. For February planting, sow seed in the end of November and protect seedlings from frost in the nursery beds by covering with polythene sheets. However, the yield obtained would be comparatively lower from February planted crop than from November planted crop.

Nursery Raising: 
Prepare 1.5 m wide and 20 cm high beds in an area of about two marlas (50 m) to raise seedlings for an acre.

Sow seeds 1 to 2 cm deep in lines with 5 cm spacing. Drench the nursery plants with Captan (5g/litre of water) after 5 to 7 days of germination. Repcat after 7 to 10 days. The seedlings become 15 to 20 cm tall in four to six weeks. After lifting the seedlings, wrap them in a wet paper for carrying to the transplanting site.

Spacing: 
Dwarf varieties require a close spacing of 75 cm x 30 cm. Rainy season varieties should be planted at a spacing of 150 x 30 cm.

Isolation Distance:
1) Foundation- 50
2) Certified- 25

Manures and Fertilizers :
Apply 10 tones of well rotten farmyard manure and plough it into the soil. Add 25 kg of N along with 25 kg of P  and 25 kg of K per acre in a band at 15 cm on one side of the bed mark and prepare the after removal of cover  earth up. In the sandy soils, apply N in three split doses. The first part should be applied along with phosphorus and potash. The Second dose should be applied just before the plants take up active growth and the third dose when the first flower clusters have started setting fruits. Under high fertility conditions, the application of N should be reduced, as the blossoms may fail to set fruit due to the unfavorable carbohydrate nitrogen ratio within the plant.

Growth Regulator : 

To increase the yield of tomato, spray Vipul Booster" @ 1 ml/liter of water in the nursery beds at least a week before transplanting. Repeat the spray of @ 0.5 ml/liter of water five times at fortnightly intervals. The first foliar spray after transplanting should be started a week after transplanting. Each Spray application requires 100 liters of water for which 50 ml of the chemical is needed. This growth regulator increases the yield by 16-18 per cent in November transplanted crop and about 12 per cent in the February transplanted crop

Irrigation : 
First irrigation should be given immediately after transplanting. Subsequent irrigations may be given after 6-7 days during summer and 10-15 days during winter months. Total number of irrigations required are 14 to 15.

Harvesting:
Enhance and ripening is possible with spraying Ethrel (10,00 ppm) on the plant's at the time initiation for ripening.
Harvesting should be done according to distance of markets.

For long distance markets pick mature green fruits whereas for local market pick at red stage. For processing pick when fruits are fully red. While picking for long distance markets remove rotten, over-ripe and borer infested fruits. The fruits should be pre-cooled at 14'C immediately after harvesting. Packaging of tomatoes in paper moulded trays followed by wrapping with shrink and cling film extends its marketing period with acceptable quality for 6 days.

Storage:
1) Temperature: Ripe Tomato 7.2°c, Unripe 8.9-10°c.
2) Relative Humidity: Ripe 90%, Unripe 85-90%.

Seed Production:
The tomato should be grown at the isolation distance of at least 50 meter from other varieties to avoid any chance of contamination.

The extraction of seed from the ripe fruits is done by fermentation method and acid method. In fermentation method, the crushed fruits are allowed to ferment for 1 to 2 days and then put in water where pulp and skin float and the seeds settle down at the bottom.

In Acid method, about 100 ml of commercial hydrochloric acid is thoroughly mixed to 15 kg of crushed tomato fruits. The seeds is separated out from the pulp within half an hour which may be cleaned, dried and packed.