Performance of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Grafts for Yield and Bacterial Wilt Resistance

Abstract

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the major biotic stress that affects tomato production and reduce the fruit yield and quality. Grafting was done using different public/ private sector determinate/ semi-determinate hybrids as scion onto the wilt resistant brinjal variety “Haritha” as rootstock. The investigation was carried out as two experiments, production of grafts and evaluation in a bacterial wilt infested field. The minimum number of days taken for graft union was observed in Unito and Swaraksha (3.67 days). Grafts of Thenito, Arka Rakshak and Vijay showed maximum grafting success rate (96.71 %) and most of the grafts showed cent per cent field establishment. The highest yield per plant was recorded in the grafts of NS-526 (801.15 g), followed by that of Sivam (770.42 g), Arka Rakshak (748.81 g) and Megha (730.61 g). Cent percent resistance to bacterial wilt disease was observed in all the grafted treatments, while non-grafted control Rasto showed cent per cent wilt incidence.