Vegetable grafting: a scientific innovation to enhance productivity and profitability of tomato growers under climate change

Introduction: Vegetable grafting is a recent innovation in vegetable cultivation that has a great potential for enhancing crop productivity and profitability under climate change scenarios, besides its potential to reduce the cost of cultivation. Methods: The present strategic research focused on assessing the performance of grafted and non-grafted tomato cultivars (PHS-448 & Sahoo) in Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse (NVPH) and open field (OF) conditions. Results and discussion: The results revealed that grafted tomatoes expressed significantly (p<0.05) higher values of growth parameters, i.e., leaf area and chlorophyll content, contributing to significantly higher total yield over non-grafted tomatoes. The grafted tomato cultivars, viz, PHS-448 and Sahoo, recorded an increased total yield of 36.65% and 46.7% respectively compared to the non-grafted ones. Growing grafted tomatoes under NVPH conditions increased yields by 63.79% due to an increase in pickings (by 3 to 5 times) compared to non-grafted tomatoes grown under open field conditions. The system productivity followed similar yield trends and revealed significant (p<0.05) variation across all picking days. The profitability analysis (gross and net monetary returns and benefit-cost ratio) showed that grafted combinations grown under NVPH are more profitable than the open field conditions and non-grafted ones, grown under both conditions. The multiple regression analysis revealed a strong correlation (R2= >80) of yield with plant height, middle leaves chlorophyll, and leaf area, irrespective of the grafted and non-grafted combinations. The present investigation concluded that cultivating grafted tomatoes helps farmers achieve maximum productivity and profitability in both NVPH and open field conditions. However, a proper policy framework is necessary to promote and scale up grafted vegetable technology to enhance the profitability of vegetable growers in climate change scenarios.