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India: New IHHR tomato variety is boon to growers

Coming to the rescue of consumers reeling under the high prices of vegetables and farmers on the verge of bankruptcy from crop losses, scientists from the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), Hesarghatta, have developed high-yielding varieties of as many as 19 vegetables. Prime among them is a tomato variety - Arka Rakshak - which has caught the attention of both buyers and farmers with its colour, juice and increased shelf life.

Giving details of the new tomato variety, Dr A T Sadashiva, principal scientist and head, division of vegetable crops, IIHR, Hesarghatta, said, "Of the two tomato varieties - Arka Rakshak and Arka Samrat - the former scores for its quality. It is high-yielding and resistant to most common diseases like leaf curl virus, bacterial wilt and early blight. These diseases were the major production constraints for tomato growers and, in fact, several farmers had given up growing tomatoes after incurring huge losses. But the new varieties have brought the smiles back on their faces."

In field trials over a year, Arka Rakshak has out-performed all the commercial hybrids available in the market with a yield of 80 tonnes per hectare. According to the scientists, each plant of Arka Rakshak can yield 19 kg of tomatoes.

Dr Sadashiva said, "The normal hybrid varieties that are fast-moving in the market yield 14 to 15 kg per plant. The new varieties will yield 30 per cent more than the conventional hybrids. Chandrappa's yield in 2012-13 is the highest recorded so far in the state and perhaps in the country. As these plants are disease-resistant, they require five to six pesticide sprays as against 12-13 for other varieties, thus cutting down the investment of farmers."

Source:bangaloremirror.com
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