Grafting is increasingly becoming an indispensable tool that minimizes the risks associated with intensive vegetable production systems, including soil-borne diseases. This study assesses the performance of two cherry tomato hybrids (‘Cheramy’ and ‘Sheeja’) grafted onto three tomato and five eggplant local rootstock genotypes (cultivated/wild) under Ralstonia solanacearum (bacterial wilt)-infested greenhouse soil. The impact of grafting on growth, yield and fruit physical quality was mainly influenced by the response of rootstocks to disease resistance. The non-grafted plants of both the cultivars were severely affected by bacterial wilt, thus presenting high susceptibility to disease. Eggplant rootstocks imparted moderate to high resistance against bacterial wilt in both the scions, while tomato (cultivated or wild) rootstocks did not improve disease resistance, except ‘Anagha’, which provided resistance to scion cv. ‘Cheramy’. In general, scion cv. ‘Cheramy’, grafted or non-grafted, showed superior growth, yield and fruit quality compared to ‘Sheeja’. The most productive graft combinations for both the cultivars involved resistant rootstocks, i.e., ‘Sheeja’ onto eggplant rootstock ‘Surya’, and ‘Cheramy’ onto tomato rootstock ‘Anagha’. Fruit quality attributes such as ascorbic acid and lycopene contents were considerably higher, and the total soluble solids (TSS) content was considerably lower in scion cv. ‘Cheramy’, whether grafted or non-grafted, than those involving scion cv. ‘Sheeja’. The grafting effect on fruit chemical quality attributes was not promising, except grafting ‘Sheeja’ onto ‘Sopim’ for TSS, ‘Sheeja’ onto ‘Sotor’ for lycopene and ‘Cheramy’ onto ‘Ponny’ for total phenols, though no clear connection with disease incidence was in these grafts. Conclusively, eggplant rootstock imparted wilt resistance, while both eggplant and tomato rootstock grafting was beneficial to both scion cultivars in boosting the overall production and economic gains, especially for ‘Cheramy’ grafted onto ‘Anagha’ rootstock under bacterial wilt infested soil of greenhouse.
Background: Karnataka is predominantly known for cluster bean production. The evidences claims that the cluster bean production is not a profitable option and has many constraints, which hinders farmers to take up this enterprise. The current study aims to analyze the growth in area, to forecast seed demand and to work out the economics of cluster bean production in Karnataka.
Methods: The current study was based on the field survey conducted in Karnataka during 2019-20, to collect the primary data from cluster bean entrepreneurs. The study has also used secondary data for analysis. Four major districts in Karnataka were selected for the study, based on the maximum area and highest production. From each district, 30 farmers were randomly selected for collection of primary data, constituting a total of 120 farmers. The Compound Annual Growth Rate and cost-returns techniques were employed for data analysis.
Result: The study indicated that Karnataka has registered a declined trend of 3.12 per cent per annum and the total estimated area under cluster bean would be 2,720 ha during 2021-22. Hence, the seed industry should cater seed demand to the tune of 544 quintals for the said period. Total cost of cultivation was worked out to be ₹ 35,176 per acre. The study emphasize that this enterprise provides higher gross and net returns to the tune of ₹ 70,851 and ₹ 35,675 per acre, respectively, with the Benefit-cost ratio of 2.01, indicating its profitability. Lack of availability of High Yielding Varieties/hybrid seeds and high wage rate were the major constraints notified in cluster bean enterprise.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.