Search Results (6)

Grafting technology is one of the best alternatives to mitigate limiting factors to tomato production (Solanum lycopersicum L). The study aimed to assess grafting combinations of tomato scions and rootstocks of eggplant (S. melongena L.) varieties Gelatik, EG203 line, and Takokak (S. torvum Sw.). Tomato varieties Cervo, Karina, and Timoty were used as scions. The grafted Cervo and Timoty yielded 30% more than non-grafted plants. The results show that grafted tomatoes suppressed disease incidence by more than 20%. The suppression resulted in higher shelf-life capacity and total dissolved solids of more than 10%, red colour intensity (a+) of more than 16%, lycopene content, fruit hardness level of more than 20%, and reduced water content by more than 1%. Vitamin C content was not affected by grafting technology. There is the potential for economic performance in the market for producers and consumers. Grafting technology in tomatoes using eggplants as rootstock could reduce disease incidence and improve agronomic aspects, product quality, and nutrient contents. Different cultivars of scions and rootstock showed different responses. Grafting technology could be disseminated to farmers for economic advantages during the off-season. Full article

Tomato production under tunnel structures has shown promising returns in recent years in Pakistan. However, the energy use and GHGs dynamics remain largely unknown for tomato production under controlled conditions. This study estimates the energy budgeting and GHG emission in off-season (tunnel-farming) tomato production. Study data were gathered from 70 tunnel tomato growers through a simple random sampling technique. Energy use efficiency, energy productivity, and net energy along with covariates of energy output were estimated through Cob–Douglas regression. The results indicate that the total input energy consumption and production were 91,376.38 MJ ha⁻¹ and 56,764.64 MJ ha⁻¹, on average, respectively. The contribution of fertilizers (60.78%) was higher in total input energy followed by diesel and chemicals. The value of energy use efficiency was 0.652, which was higher for small farms (0.678) and lower (0.604) for large farms. Energy productivity (0.815 kg MJ⁻¹), specific energy (1.355 MJ Kg⁻¹), and net energy (−34,611.743 MJ ha⁻¹) were also estimated. The total greenhouse gas emission was 3426.66 kg CO₂ eq. ha⁻¹, which is low for large farms (3197.57 kg CO₂ eq. ha⁻¹). The contribution of farmyard manure to total GHG emissions was high. The results show the inefficient use of inputs, responsible for GHG emissions. Fertilizers were a major contributor both in total input energy and GHG emission. The efficient utilization of agricultural inputs is a solution to reduce GHGs emissions in crop production. Therefore, the agriculture department should play its role to ensure the optimal or efficient use of agricultural inputs. The Department of Extension is working to guide farmers about crop production at each stage. Thus, regular visits from extension staff are recommended to guide vegetable producers about efficient input use. Full article

Tomato production in coastal areas in West Africa is constrained by heat stress. There is currently limited empirical evidence on the extent of the effect of heat stress on tomato yield in the sub-region. In this study, we assessed the effects of heat stress on yield and yield components among 16 tomato genotypes with varying heat tolerance status and explored the potential of stress tolerance indices to identify heat tolerant genotypes. The experiments were conducted under three temperature and humidity regimes, namely optimal season (28.37/23.71 °C and 71.0/90.4% day/night), long-term mild and humid (greenhouse, 30.0/26.2 °C and 77.6/97.2%), and long-term mild and dry (open field, 31.50/28.88 °C and 66.72/77.82%) heat stress (HS). All genotypes exhibited significantly higher fruit set percentage, fruit number per plant, fruit weight, and fruit weight per plant in the optimal season compared to both heat stress conditions. In general, the genotypes demonstrated higher performance under dry HS (i.e., HS in open field HSO) than humid HS (i.e., HS in greenhouse HSG). Fruit set decreased by 71.5% and 68.3% under HSG and HSO, respectively, while a reduction of 75.1% and 50.5% occurred in fruit weight per plant under HSG and HSO, respectively. The average sum of ranks values from nine stress tolerance indices and fruit weight per plant (used as proxy trait of yield) identified CLN2498D, CLN3212C, CLN1621L, and BJ01 as heat tolerant under HSG and BJ01, BJ02, Fla.7171, and P005 as heat tolerant under HSO. Fruit weight per plant under long-term heat stress (Ys) and optimal growing conditions (Yp) were suitable to select high performing genotypes under HSO, HSG, and optimal conditions while relative stress index, yield stability index, yield index, stress susceptibility index, and harmonic mean were suitable to select heat tolerant genotypes under either HSG or HSO. Our findings shed light on the extent of the effect of HS on tomato production in the off-season in coastal areas in West Africa and provide new insight concerning the heat tolerance status of the evaluated tomato genotypes. Full article

In subtropical regions, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is mainly produced in autumn and winter. To enhance the off-season production of tomato, summer cultivation has become a prime objective. Grafting tomato scions onto eggplant (Solanum melongena) rootstocks is a key method to overcome the difficulties of tomato cultivation in summer. In this study, we collected seedling growth data over six growing seasons in Taiwan and established growth models by employing three commonly used sigmoid growth curves, namely the Gompertz, Richards, and Logistic curves. Cumulative temperature was introduced as an independent variable and its relationship with plant stem diameter determined. The R² values of the growth models were 0.74–0.85 and 0.72–0.80 in calibration and validation, respectively. Performance did not differ markedly among models in the same growing season, but notable differences were observed among models for different growing seasons. In addition, the estimates of several model parameters differed significantly among the seasons; hence, separate models should be established for different seasons. The results of this study can be used in prediction of tomato and eggplant seedling growth and arrangement of the grafting schedule to improve the efficiency of seedling production in subtropical countries. Full article

Glasshouse farming is one of the most intensive types of production of agricultural products. Via this process, consumers have the ability to consume mainly off-season vegetables and farmers are able to reduce operational risks, due to their ability to control micro-climate conditions. This type of farming is quite competitive worldwide, this being the main reason for formulating and implementing assessment models measuring operational performance. The methodology used in this study is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which has wide acceptance in agriculture, among other sectors of the economy. The production protocols of four different vegetables—cucumber, eggplant, pepper, and tomato—were evaluated. Acreage (m²), crop protection costs (€), fertilizers (€), labor (Hr/year), energy (€), and other costs (€) were used as inputs. The turnover of every production unit (€) was used as the output. Ninety-eight agricultural holdings participated in this survey. The dataset was obtained by face-to-face interviews. The main findings verify the existence of significant relative deficiencies (including a mean efficiency score of 0.87) as regards inputs usage, as well as considerably different efficiency scores among the different cultivations. The most efficient of these was the eggplant production protocol and the least efficient was that used for the tomato. The implementation of DEA verified its utility, providing incentives for continuing to use this methodology for improving land management decision making. Full article

Greenhouses have been used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to produce vegetables that contribute toward UAE food security, including offering fresh vegetable produce in the off-season. However, to manage such greenhouses, farmers face both technical and environmental limitations (i.e., high water scarcity), as well as vegetable market price instability. The objective of this study is to explore tradeoffs between returns (i.e., gross margin) of selected vegetables (tomato, pepper, and cucumber), risk (deviation from gross margin means), and an environmental constraint (water salinity) using a unique target MOTAD (minimization of total absolute deviations) approach to support UAE farmer decision-making processes. The optimal target MOTAD solution included all three vegetables and no corner solution. The results showed tradeoffs between returns and risks, and confirmed that product diversification reduces overall risk. The analysis was consistent with farmer perceptions based on a survey of 78 producers in the region. The search for the optimal mix of vegetable production under UAE greenhouse conditions revealed that reduction in tomato production should be offset by an increase in cucumber production while maintaining a constant level of pepper production. In other words, risk is reduced as cucumber production increases due to the high level of tomato and lettuce price volatility as the alternative to cucumber. The results also demonstrated the importance of the water salinity environmental constraint, as it was found to have a positive marginal value in the optimal vegetable mix solution (i.e., important factor). Thus the optimal solution was highly sensitive to changes in the crop water salinity constraint. The study results also demonstrate that the target MOTAD approach is a suitable optimization methodology. As a practical approach, a decision-maker in the UAE can consider gross margin (total revenue-variable costs) maximization with risk and water quality constraints to find the optimal vegetable product mix under greenhouse conditions. Full article