Tomato Production in the Hot-wet Season using Grafting and Rainshelter Technology

Abstract

Production of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) during the hot-wet season in the lowland humid tropics can be increased using grafted plants and rainshelter. This technology can reduce soil-borne diseases, improve the ability of tomato plants to tolerate high temperatures and flooding due to high rainfall, and protect the crop from the impact of heavy rains. AVRDC has developed tomato lines that are resistant to virus diseases and high temperatures. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of these lines in the hot-wet season, with and without rainshelter protection. Tomato lines (CHT501, TLCV15, and FMTT847) were grafted onto eggplant (Solanum melongena cv. EG203) rootstock and grown under rainshelter and open field. Nongrafted plants of three lines were also grown under two rainshelter treatments. The experimental design was a split-plot with four replications. Plants were managed using AVRDC standard practices for summer tomato production. TLCV15 and FMTT847 were highly resistant to tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV), whereas CHT501 was greatly infected by the virus disease. All nongrafted plants died from bacterial wilt, whereas grafted plants survived the disease and outyielded nongrafted plants by 233% in the open field and 143% under rainshelters. Plants under rainshelters had a slightly lower yield than in the open field, but the difference was nonsignificant. Due to lack of frequent high rainfall during the season, the benefit of rainshelter was not detected and realized. It was concluded that TLCV15 and FMTT847 are well suited for grafted tomato production during the hot-wet season.