Technologies- La Niņa

(Crops Sector)

  

Flood-Tolerant Grafted Tomato
 


Description

Grafting of superior quality tomato variety to flood-tolerant, disease-resistant rootstock is a fast way to combine crop resistance against certain abiotic or biotic environmental stresses and desirable horticultural traits. The rootstock is a flood-tolerant, disease-resistant eggplant line. Eggplant can withstand prolonged duration of flooding and has shown compatibility with tomato scions (AVRDC 1997).

Advantages

  • fast approach to crop resistance against abiotic and biotic environmental stresses

  • reduces soil-borne diseases through grafting

  • desirable horticultural traits of tomato like fruiting traits

Limitations

  • Grafting reduces the yield potential of tomato, thus the technology is best suited only under stress conditions or as an off-season tomato crop.

Recommendations

  • Put up trellis when necessary.

  • Transplant at 100 cm x 30 cm or 75 cm x 50 cm apart (joint of scion and rootstock should be above soil).

  • Plant 2-3 seedlings/hill.

  • Remove eggplant suckers that grow out from rootstock during hardening stage and after transplanting.

  • Apply 1 tbsp complete fertilizer per hill.

  • Use foliar fertilizer in flooded or semiflooded areas.

  • Weed when necessary.

  • Judiciously apply insecticides against fruitworms and thrips.

  • Uproot plants infected by bacterial wilt and tomato mosaic virus.

  • Apply fungicides and nematicides to control foliage diseases (Cladosporium leaf mold and Cercospora leaf mold).

  • Harvest mature green or pink blush fruits.

  • Pack in kaings (bamboo crates) lined with banana leaves or bracts.

Possible Areas of Application

  • The seedlings are suited for water-logged areas and for pre-rice planting.

Dysfunctional Consequences

  • In general, eggplants are flood-tolerant, but use of rootstocks without resistance genes against bacterial wilt, root-knot nematode, and fusarium wilt is not encouraged.

Sources of Technology

  • Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)

  • IPB, UPLB

References

AVRDC. AVRDC Annual Report 1995. Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan: AVRDC.

Jen-faw Wang. Personal communications. Shanhua, Taiwan: Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center. 1999.
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