Varietal, and micronutrient trials on spring and rainy season tomato conducted at outreach research sites, 1995/96

A pre-production verification trial on summer season tomato was planted at four Outreach Research (OR) sites (650-1100m asl) to compare and verify the performance of tomato varieties (CH-154 and Pusa Ruby) with or without use of micro-nutrient. Irrespective of use of micro-nutrient, CH-154 was 4 days, 2 days and 7 days earlier than Pusa Ruby at Dhanubase, Khabara and Kudule respectively to produce marketable fruits. Varietal effect on marketable fruit yield was significant at two sites where, irrespective of micro-nutrient use CH-154 outyielded Pusa Ruby by 32 percent at Khabara, whereas, Pusa Ruby outyielded CH-154 by 77 percent at Hemja. The effect of micro-nutrients on marketable fruit yield was significant only at Khabara where irrespective of variety, use of micro-nutrient increased marketable fruit yield by 23 percent over no use of micro-nutrient. A farmers' field trial (FFT) on rainy season tomato was planted at four OR sites to identify the appropriate cultivar(s) of tomato for rainy season cultivation in low to mid hill areas. The overall treatment mean indicated that the varieties PT-4225 and BL-410 were the earliest varieties (57 days) which produced marketable fruit 4 days earlier than the latest variety BL-350 (61 days). Varietal effect on marketable fruit yield was significant at all four sites. The overall treatment mean across the locations indicated that BL-355 was the highest fruit producing variety which produced 24 percent, 25 percent, 42 percent and 77 percent more marketable fruits than ABL-410, PT-4225, BL-350 and CL-1131 respectively. However, this variety (BL-355) was not liked by farmers and traders. The variety BL-410 was found the most suitable variety in terms of good yield, attractive fruit shape and size and comparatively free from insect/pest and disease damage. Similarly, the variety PT-4225 was also found appropriate from fruit yield and post harvest shelf life point of view.