Is soilless agriculture feasible for hybrid seed production in tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i> L.)?

Hydroponics and aeroponics are advanced techniques for cultivating plants under controlled conditions without soil in polyhouses to address soil-related problems. An experiment was designed to evaluate the potentiality of soilless methods over conventional soil-based methods for hybrid seed production of tomatoes. For initial standardization of nutrient solution and pH of the media, six different nutrient solutions viz., Hoagland’s, CPRI, Chikkaballapur, Ethiopia, USDA and Komosa nutrient solutions, were tested, and pH was standardized. The crop performance was superior in Hoagland’s nutrient solution with a pH range of 5.5–6.4. The experiment comprised three methods of production, two parental lines (TAG 1 F and TAG 2 F), and two seed treatments (S1: Control and S2: Thiram @ 2 g kg-1 + chlorpyrifos @3 g kg-1) for hybrid seed production of tomato. A hundred percent survival rate was recorded in a soilless medium, whereas seed treatment increased the percent survival rate by 9% under the conventional system. Soiless method performed better than the conventional method. Aeroponics recorded a higher plant relative growth rate (1.17), fruit weight (124.54 g), total biomass (106.44 g), and seed index (3.95 g). Hydroponics produced a higher number of seeds fruit 1 (98.42), SVI-II (294), and 6% higher protein than the conventional method. The soilless method may open up a new approach for high-quality and year-round healthy hybrid tomato seed production under protected cultivation.</p