M Sc

The project entitled “Evaluation of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) grafts for yield,
quality and bacterial wilt resistance” was carried out at the Department of Vegetable Science,
College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during 2019-2021 to assess the performance of different
public / private sector determinate / semi-determinate hybrids as scion for grafting tomato onto
the wilt resistant brinjal variety Haritha as rootstock and to evaluate the growth, yield and
bacterial wilt resistance of the tomato grafts.
The experiment was carried out in two parts. In part I, 20 different public/private sector
determinate/semi-determinate hybrids were taken as scions. Two bacterial wilt susceptible and
2 wilt resistant hybrids were taken as control plants. KAU released bacterial wilt resistant
brinjal variety Haritha was used as the rootstock for all grafts and cleft grafting was done for
20 hybrids. In part II, hardened tomato grafts and non-grafted controls were evaluated for yield,
quality and bacterial wilt resistance with 24 treatments.
The results of grafting experiment showed significant differences among the treatments
studied. The lowest number of days taken for graft union was observed in Unito and Swaraksha
(3.67 days). The highest grafting success rate was observed in Thenito, Arka Rakshak and Vijay
(96.71 %). Majority of the grafted plants showed cent per cent field establishment.
The results of field evaluation showed significant difference among grafted and nongrafted treatments. Plant height was the highest in the grafts of INDAM-14301 (120.33 cm),
while the grafts of Mahy-Anagha recorded the highest number of primary branches per plant
(7.27). Height at flowering was the lowest in the grafts of Lakshmi (27.80). The lowest node to
first inflorescence was recorded by the grafts of Lakshmi (8.06), while the grafts of Lakshmi
and Rasam recorded the highest crop duration (98 days).
Early flowering was observed in the grafts of Mahy-701 (23.20 days); earliest days to
fruit set (4.06 days) was noted in non-grafted control Naveen, while the highest flowers per
cluster was recorded in the grafts of Bhagyavan (7.44). The highest number of inflorescence
per plant was exhibited in the grafts of Arka Rakshak (39.00) while the highest fruit set (%)
was recorded by the grafts of Megha (66.28 %).
The highest number of fruits per plant was recorded in the grafts of Arka Rakshak
(21.67). The highest fruit length and fruit girth was recorded by the grafts of INDAM-1320
94
(5.20 cm) and Ruchi-Gold (4.98 cm) respectively. Grafts of NS-526 recorded the highest single
fruit weight, yield per plant and yield per plot (55.96g, 801.15g, and 10.63 kg respectively).
All grafted treatments showed cent per cent resistance to bacterial wilt resistance and
all the four controls showed bacterial wilt incidence. Susceptible control Rasto showed
maximum bacterial wilt incidence (100 %) while the resistant control Arka Samrat took the
minimum number of days for bacterial wilt incidence (32.81).
With respect to quality characters grafts of Lakshmi recorded the highest T.S.S content
(4.8 °B). Lycopene was the highest in the non-grafted control Raksha (25.71 mg 100 g-1
), while
the grafts of Sivam and Megha recorded maximum ascorbic acid content of 32.14 mg 100 g-1
.
TLCV disease incidence of 48.89 per cent was observed in the grafts of INDAM-1320.
The highest incidence of tobacco caterpillar was observed in the grafts of Rasam, INDAM14301 and Bhagyawan (15.56 %). Grafts of Megha recorded 11.11 per cent of Septoria leaf
spot disease incidence.
Yield per plant showed a significant positive correlation with yield per plot, fruit weight,
fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth, inflorescence per plant and fruit set percentage.
Based on the yield, quality, bacterial wilt resistance and mean performance, the grafted
plants of NS-526, Megha and Arka Rakshak on the brinjal variety Haritha as rootstock, were
found superior.