India: New tomato variety yields 19 kg a plant
With this kind of yield, the new variety of Arka Rakshak (Arka stands for the river Arkavathi on whose banks the IIHR is located) has created waves in the sector. “Clearly, this is the highest tomato yield the State has ever witnessed, and also this variety has turned out to be the State’s highest tomato-yielding variety as per scientific data,” says IIHR’s Principal Scientist and Head of the Division of Vegetable Crops A.T. Sadashiva.
According to him, the highest yield per plant by other hybrids is only 15 kg. Pointing out that Karnataka’s average tomato productivity was only 35 tonnes a hectare, Dr. Sadashiva notes that Arka Rakshak’s yield had touched a high of 190 tonnes in a farmer’s field.
According to Dr. Sadashiva, these are not only high-yielding varieties but are also resistant to three diseases of tomato leaf curl virus, bacterial wilt and early blight. This helps in reducing the cost of cultivation by at least 10 per cent by way of savings on fungicides and pesticides, he notes.
In addition, this deep red variety has other advantages, such as the firmness of the fruit which makes them suitable for long-distance transportation. Similarly, they have a shelf life of 15 days as opposed to 10 days for other hybrids and six days for common varieties.
Source: thehindu.com
