Extending harvest duration in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) with a combination of varieties, row spacings and planting systems

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important vegetable crop grown throughout the world not only in terms of hectarage, but also in terms of its versatility for adoption under wide range of agroclimatic conditions and crop growing situations. It is one of the most popular cash earning vegetable crops for marginal farmers of India. There is an urgent need to increase the production and productivity of tomato in the country and the state as well. The return from this crop has reduced gradually because of poor farmers practices with respect to plant population and selection of varieties. Generally the farmers are cultivating one type of variety at a time i.e. either determinate or indeterminate and creates gluts in the markets. The demand for semi-indeterminate to indeterminate varieties of tomato is increasing among farmers for extending harvesting period, but growing of such varieties require distant spacings and training that involves high cost of production which is a limiting factor. Therefore, there is need to standardize row spacing and combine of varieties for better utilization of available soil, water and atmospheric resources to enhance productivity and quality of tomato for regulating market and fetching better price by marginal farmer.