Tomato is a versatile crop that grows well in various climates and soils. It has several health benefits as its pulp and juice are digestible and help promote gastric secretion. Tomato can be grown year-round in places without frost. Common varieties include Sioux, Pusa Red Plum, and Co-1. Standard fertilizer application is 200:250:250 kg/ha of NPK. Pests include thrips, whiteflies, and fruit borers. Diseases include damping off, early blight, late blight, and mosaic virus. Proper weed, pest, and disease management helps maximize tomato production.

1. Preparedby:VirupakshiHallur

2. Importance and uses
• Tomato is one of the versatile crop in the world because
of its fast and wide climatic adaption and it is universally
treated as “protective food”.
• The pulp and juice are digestible ,mild apparent, a
promoter of gastric secretion and blood purifier.
• Also reported to have a antiseptic properties against
intestinal infections and fought against the cancer of
mouth ,etc.
• It stimulates torpid liver and is good in chronic
dyspepsia.
• The solanine content of the pulp made from unripe
tomato is much lower ,similar to peeled potato
(5mg/100g of edible part )
• Its ripe fruits are utilized on a large scale in the
preparation of a variety of processed products, such as
puree, paste, ketchup, sauce, soup, syrup, juice, drinks,
and canned whole peeled fruits.

3. Soil selection:
• Day neutral plant, grow best in warm season because frost cause damage. Crop grows well under
optimum temperature of 210 C-230C.
Climate requirement:
• It grows well in all kinds of soil. For early crop, a sandy loam soil is the best, for higher yield
heavy soils rich in organic matter are preferred. The pH should be 6.0 – 7.0. It is moderately
tolerant to acid soil (pH 5.5).

4. Field
preparation:
Plough the land to fine tilth. Thoroughly prepare the field
with the addition of FYM @ 10 t/acre and form ridges
and furrows at a spacing of 60 cm and for double row
form beds of 90 width on top.
Irrigate the furrows and transplant 25 days old seedlings
on the sides of ridges. Life irrigation to be given on 3rd
day of planting.

5. Varieties:
Selection of tomato varieties have been in plenty suitable almost all parts of the country. Some of the
sought-after varieties are given below.
• Sioux- High yielding dwarf, spreading
• Pusa red plum- Table variety, determinate (IARI)
• Pusa early dwarf- Suitable for kharif and rabi(IARI)
• Co-1- Semi spreading dwarf, fruits in cluster (TNAU)
• Co-2- Mutant of Co-1.
• S-12- High yielding, variety from PAU
• PKM-1- Round fruits with green shoulder
• Pusa Ruby- Indeterminate, flat fruits (IARI)
• Pusa Gaurav- Good for processing (IARI)
• Meghadoot- high yielding variety

6. Season of sowing:
Tomato can be grown in any season as it is a day neutral plant. Three crops are taken in areas which
are not affected by frost.
1) For rainy-autumn crop: The seeds are sown in the month of June and July.
2) For autumn-winter crop: Seeds are sown in the month of Sep-Oct.
3) For spring-summer crop: Seeds are sown in the month of Jan-Feb.
Seed rate:
Varieties : 300-350 g / ha
Hybrids : 100-150 g / ha
Spacing:
60 x 30 cm
45 x 30 cm

7. Fertilizer schedule:
Recommended dose: 200:250: 250 kg / ha

8. Weed control:
• The normal method of weed control is to give two hand hoeing in the first
and third fortnight after transplanting and an earthing up operation during
the seasonal fortnight.
• The application of pre emergence herbicides like metribuzin at 0.35kg/ha,
fluchloraline 1.25kg/ha controls the weed population and increases the
yield of tomato.
• Recently the use of pendimethalin @1.0kg/ha as pre emergence
application at three days after transplanting was found very effective in
suppressing the weeds.

9. Staking:
In case of indeterminate varieties, the yield and
quality of fruit is improved by staking the plants
with wooden sticks/polythene threads. Staking
not only increases the yield and improve its
quality but also reduces the infection by fungal
diseases.

10. Harvesting:
• Harvesting of tomato fruits is
carried out either at breaker
stage or at half red depending
upon the market preference.
• First harvest starts at 60 days
after planting.

11. Major pests of Tomato
Thrips: Thrips tabaci
• Mechanically uproot the diseased plants and destroy them
• Use yellow sticky traps @ 15/ha
• Spray methyl demeton 25 EC @1lit/ha or dimethoate 30 EC @1lit/ha
Serpentine leaf miner: Liriomyza trifolii
• Leaf miner damage Mining in the leaf Dried leaves
• Collect and destroy mined leaves
• Spray NSKE 5%
Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci
• Uproot and destroy the diseased leaf curl plants
• Use nitrogen and irrigation judiciously.
• Use yellow sticky traps at 12/ha to attract and kill insects.
• Apply carbofuran 3% G @ 40 kg /ha
• Spray of dimethoate 30% E C @1ml/lt or malathion 1.5ml/lt.
Fruit Borer: Helicoverpa armigera
• Growing of trap crop -40 days old American tall marigold and 25 days oldtomato seedling at 1:16 rows
• Set up pheromone trap with Helilure at 12/ha
• Collection and destruction of damaged fruits and grown up caterpillars
• Release Trichogramma @ 1 lakh nos. /ha release at an interval of 7 days starting from flower initiation.
• Spray Bacillus thuringiensis 2g/lit.

12. Major Disease of Tomato
Damping off : Pythium aphanidermatum
• Use raised seed bed
• Drench with Copper oxychloride 0.2% or Bordeaux mixture 1%.
• Seed treatment with fungal culture Trichoderma viride (4 g/kg of seed) or Thiram (3 g/kg of seed) is the only
preventive measure to control the pre-emergence damping off.
Early Blight: Alternaria solani
• Removal and destruction of crop debris.
• Practicing crop rotation helps to minimize the disease incidence.
• Spray the crop with Mancozeb 0.2 % for effective disease control.
Late blight - Phytophthora infestans
• The affected plants should be removed and destroyed.
• Practicing crop rotation helps to minimize the disease incidence.
• Drench w
Mosaic: Tomato mosaic virus (TMV)
• Use of disease-free seed and seedlings.
• Crop rotation with non-host crops.
• Soaking of the seeds in a solution of Trisodium Phosphate (90 g/litre ofwater) a day before sowing.
• Spray Imidachloprid 0.05 % or Dimethoate 0.05% to control vector with Copper oxychloride 0.2% or Bordeaux
mixture 1%.