Productive Characteristics and Fruit Quality Traits of Cherry Tomato Hybrids as Modulated by Grafting on Different Solanum spp. Rootstocks under Ralstonia solanacearum Infested Greenhouse Soil

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

Evaluation of different management practices against yellow Sigatoka disease of banana (Musa spp.) caused by Mycosphaerella musicola Leach

Leaf spot or yellow sigatoka disease (caused by Mycosphaerella musicola) of banana causes significant yield loss as well as in quality of fruits in every year and reported up to 65% or even more under favorable epidemic conditions. In this perspective, an experiment was conducted at ZBNF project Research field, college of horticulture, Sirsi (Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka) for consecutive two seasons (2020-21 & 2021-22). Experiment accompanied with RBD statistical design with five replications and four treatments. Four different management practices involving viz. Propiconazole 25EC @ 0.1% (Recommended package of practices-UHS, Bagalkot), Trichoderma harzianum 10g/lit. (Organic farming), sour butter milk 5 lit. per 200 liter of water (Natural farming) and Tebuconazole 50% + Trifloxystrobin 25% WG @0.5gm/lit. (Chemical farming) were evaluated against sigatoka leaf spot disease. Among the management practices, chemical farming comprises tebuconazole 50%+ trifloxystrobin 25%WG@1gm/lit was found effective in managing the disease (12.38% PDI) followed by recommended package of practice comprises propiconazole 25%EC @1ml/l (16.33% PDI), organic farming comprises of talk-based Trichoderma harzianum 10g/lit (17.33% PDI). Natural farming showed least effective to combat disease recorded maximum disease severity (19.66% PDI) after 210 days after planting. Although chemical farming can effectively control the disease but results in the serious risk on human health and environmental hazards. Therefore, organic and natural farming are an alternative approach that are eco-friendly and economically viable against sigatoka leaf spot disease management

Productive Characteristics and Fruit Quality Traits of Cherry Tomato Hybrids as Modulated by Grafting on Different Solanum spp. Rootstocks under Ralstonia solanacearum Infested Greenhouse Soil

Not AvailableGrafting 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.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableABSTRACT Fourty four okra genotypes were assessed for genetic divergence using Mahanalobis D2 statistics. The population was grouped in to twelve clusters. The cluster III was the largest with eight genotypes followed by cluster I and VIII with seven, cluster II with five, cluster XII with three while, clusters IV, V, VI, IX, X and XI included only two genotype in each. The clustering pattern indicated that there was no association between geographical distribution of genotypes and genetic divergence. The intra-cluster distance was maximum in cluster XII (28.14), while inter-cluster distance was maximum between cluster VI and VIII (35.57) followed by I and IX (35.31), thus being a good source for attempting hybridization. The characters namely days to 50% flowering (35.62%), 100 seed weight (28.44%), number of seeds per fruit (17.23%) and average fruit weight (8.14%) were directly contributed towards maximum divergence and, therefore, selection of divergent parents based on these characters is recommended for getting good hybrids or segregants in okra.Not Availabl

Grafting Bell Pepper onto Local Genotypes of <i>Capsicum</i> spp. as Rootstocks to Alleviate Bacterial Wilt and Root-Knot Nematodes under Protected Cultivation

In soil-based protected cultivation, the prevalence of certain diseases like bacterial wilt and nematodes in the bell pepper plant due to its successive cropping pose a threat for maximizing productivity. Considering the potential of grafting to alleviate various biotic and abiotic stresses, often relying on rootstock’s capability, we explored the potential of diverse local genotypes of Capsicum spp. to utilize as rootstocks. In this research, we assessed the performance of a commercial bell pepper cv. Massilia F1, grafted onto twenty-five rootstocks along with non-grafted and self-grafted Massilia plants under artificial inoculation conditions of bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita) in a plastic greenhouse. The response of rootstock grafting was determined by assessing disease incidences and their effect on plants growth, yield, and physiology, as well as their efficiency in nutrient accumulation. The grafted plants exhibited varied responses to diseases depending on rootstock genotypes. Notably, Massilia grafted onto the CRS-8 and CRS-1 rootstocks exhibited high bacterial wilt resistance by showing lower percent disease incidence (PDI) (22.22 and 27.78 percent, respectively). Others, like CRS-11, CRS-12, CRS-13, CRS-21, and CRS-24, showed moderate resistance (PDI ranging from 33.33 to 38.89 percent, respectively). The self-grafted and non-grafted plants were highly susceptible and recorded complete mortality by the end of the experiment. All of the grafted plants exhibited promising resistance against nematode infestation compared to non-grafted and self-grafted plants with 26.17 and 8.67 percent root galls, respectively. The susceptible plants had lower shoot and root dry weights, while the resistant graft combinations had comparatively higher biomass. Importantly, grafting induced earliness in flowering and provided higher yields, especially in graft combinations involving the CRS-15, CRS-11, and CRS-8 rootstocks. These graft combinations exhibited significantly higher yields over the non-grafted and self-grafted plants. The plant yield was positively associated with plant height, number of leaves, fresh and dry weight of roots, number of fruits per plant, and average fruit weight, but negatively related to bacterial wilt and root-knot nematode incidences. The increased level of antioxidant enzymes such as polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and peroxidase (POD) and the higher total chlorophyll content in the resistant grafted plants indicates their better ability to cope with diseases at the cellular level. This study highlights the robust performance of certain rootstocks from Capsicum annuum (CRS-1, CRS-2, CRS-11, CRS-15) and Capsicum frutescens (CRS-8, CRS-13, CRS-22) species across multiple measured parameters. Grafting emerges as a sustainable solution for bell pepper production in bacterial wilt- and nematode-infested soil under plastic greenhouses

Different Farming Systems Concerning Soil Health and Yield of Arecanut and Black Pepper

We conducted two year (2020 and 2021) field experiment in the farmer’s field at Hanagal, Sirsi, Karnataka to study the impacts of different farming practices (Recommended package of practice; (RPP), Organic farming, Natural farming and Chemical farming) on rhizosphere microflora, soil nutrient status and yield of arecanut and black pepper. The results revealed that, soil pH and electrical conductivity did not vary significantly due to different farming systems. Whereas, the significantly (p&lt;0.05) highest soil organic carbon content was in organic farming (0.74%) which was on par with natural farming (0.66%) and least in chemical farming (0.71%). The highest available nitrogen (258.31 kg ha-1), phosphorus (39.06 kg ha-1) and potassium (205.47 kg ha-1) were in RPP. Whereas the highest secondary nutrients and micronutrients content were in organic and natural faming. The lowest of all these nutrients were recorded in chemical farming at the harvest stage of arecanut. Soil microflora, dehydrogenase and phosphatase activity in the arecanut and black pepper rhizosphere were significantly (p&lt;0.05) highest in natural farming and lowest in chemical farming. Concerning yield, the significantly highest arecanut (Chali yield 29.35 q.ha-1) and black pepper (dry yield 12.07 q. ha-1) yield was in RPP and maximum net return also observed in RPP (Rs. 10, 62, 500 ha-1)