Abstract:

Tomato is one among three most important solanacious vegetables cultivated in

the world.

Tomato is cultivated in to methods such as direct seeding and transplanting and

transplanting occupies prime area.

Tillage operations (both primary and secondary) are important for better

production of tomato.

Country plough, mould board plough, disc plough and chisel plough are widely

used for tomato cultivation.

Disc harrows, cultivators, rotavator are used for finer operations.

Main field of tomato is modified in to ridges and furrows, beds and channels and

raised beds, of these, ridges and furrows are widely practiced.

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Learning objectives:

To learn the different tillage implements used for tomato cultivation.

To study the various land modifications practiced before planting or sowing of

tomato.

Introduction:

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is most important and remunerative

vegetable crop in the World. A rich source of minerals, vitamins and organic

acids, tomato fruit provides 3–4% of total sugar, 4–7% of total solids, 15–

30mg/100g of ascorbic acid.

Tomato is one of the most important three solanaceous vegetables (tomato,

chilli and brinjal/egg plant) grown in the world.

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It is comparatively tender crop and having moderately deep root system and hence

suitable field preparations ensure the better tomato cultivation.

Tillage is the mechanical manipulation of the soil and being practiced even prior to

crop production.

Good tilth provide amenable environment for tomato cultivation and is pre-

requisite.

Different tillage implements, both of animal and tractor drawn are used for

obtaining good tilth.

After tillage, the land is ready for raising tomato and certain modifications (like

ridges and furrows) are made to ease irrigation and other management and tomato

is sown or plantedPREVIOUS NEXT END

Methods of cultivation

Tomato is mainly cultivated in two methods, viz., direct seeding and

transplanting. However, transplanting is the most common and widely

practiced method.

1. Direct seeding

Direct seeding of tomato results in early flowering, early fruiting, early

yield and less incidence of pests and diseases.

The main field is prepared and after obtaining fine tilth the land is modified

according the situation and the seeds are sown directly.

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Seeding of 3–5 seeds in a clump at 25–30cm ensures 2–3 plants/clump.

Seeds should be sown 1.25 to 2.5cm deep.

After establishment of plants, thinning should be done to maintain 1–2

seedlings/hill.

Close spacing has the advantage of higher yield by direct seeding.

Due to light weight of seeds and the seeds are to be sown at shallow depth,

it is very difficult to make direct seeding and not practiced widely by many

of farmers.

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2. Transplanting

Transplanting method of planting comprises of two stages, 1.Raising

seedlings in nursery and 2. Transplanting in main field.

Nursery preparation

For raising the seedlings for one ha, about 250m2 area is required. Generally,

7.5m length and 1.2m to 1.5m width of nursery beds are preferred.

The bed are raised or elevated to the height of 5-10cm by making scooping

of soil in all four corners.

The beds are covered with a layer of well decomposed farmyard manure @

4kg/m2 and sand is mixed if the clay proportion is more

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Necessary seed treatment is practiced to reduce the ill effects of seedling in

nursery.

Soon after sowing, the beds should be irrigated with rose can and covered

with paddy straw.

The beds should be irrigated everyday morning. Seedlings are ready for

transplanting 4–5 weeks after sowing.

Hardening of seedlings before transplanting is essential for better setting in

the field.

Hardening is done by withholding water 4–5 days before uprooting

seedlings.

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Transplanting

Good seedlings obtained from the nursery are taken to main field and

planted. The field is prepared preferably as ridges and furrows of about

60cm and flat bed and raised bed methods are used.

Raised beds economize watering, there is less incidence of diseases and

pests and sometimes has the advantage of staking.

Mechanically harvested and processing tomatoes should be planted at close

spacing.

Hybrids are planted at wider spacing from row-to-row and close spacing of

plant-to-plant to facilitate mechanization

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Tillage for tomato

Tillage is the important operation carried out in tomato cultivation where

the soil is ploughed using implements to attain good tilth.

Primary tillage is the initial soil breaking ploughing and manipulating of

top 15-90 cm soil, whereas secondary tillage includes seedbed preparation

and intercultural operations up to a depth of 15 cm.

Tomato root system penetrates up to about 60 cm deep, both primary (deep)

and secondary (fine and shallow) tillages are necessary.

Both nursery and main fields, the tillage operations carried out are common

in tomato.PREVIOUS NEXT END

Primary tillage implements

Important primary tillage implements used for land preparation tomato are

country plough, mould board plough, disc plough and chisel plough.

Country plough is the most important plough used by many of the farmers

of developing country in tomato cultivation.

It is drawn only with bullocks and cuts a ‘V’ shaped furrow and opens the

soil, but no inversion is made.

Due to advent of mechanization, many of the modern ploughing

implements are introduced.

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Mould board plough is ploughing to the depth of about 30-40cm is highly

useful.

This implement is mainly attached to the tractor and soil inversion is main

advantage. Disc ploughs operate with 60cm diameter of discs and scoop-

out the soil and turns it.

Grassy weedy fields, the plough are a boon but, stony fields, these ploughs

can’t be used.

Chisel ploughs or sub-soilers are used for breaking the hard pan (formed

due to nature of soil or man made or due to compaction of heavy

machineries).

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Secondary tillage implements

After the opening up of soil or deep ploughing, the soil is to be made fine

and shallow ploughing is practiced.

Country plough is also used for the secondary tillage operation but,

cultivator and disc harrows attached to the tractor are widely used for

secondary tillage operation.

Cultivators with varied tynes (9 or 11 etc.) are used for finer and shallow

ploughing operation.

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The disc harrow consists of a number of concave discs of 45 to 55 cm in

diameter.

The discs cut through the soil and effectively pulverize the clods.

Rotavator are also put in use for breaking clods in many a case but, there is

possibility of damage of physical characters of the soil.

Generally, one deep ploughing using primary tillage implements followed

by two or three fine tillages are made prior to tomato cultivation.

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Land modification for tomato

Tomato is directly sown or transplanted in to the main field. Both of these,

mostly ridges and furrow method is commonly practiced.

However, beds and channels; and raised bed cultivation are also practiced in

certain cases.

Ridges of varying sizes (45 cm to 90cm) are formed depending on cultivar,

vigour of plant, irrigation method (surface or drip) etc.

Ridge ploughs of either attached to bullock pair or tractor are used for

making the ridges.

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After the ridges formation, channels are framed according to the

convenient. The seeds are sown or seedlings are transplanted in the sides of

the ridges.

Beds and channels are formed using bund former of animal drawn or

tractor drawn implements.

Based on slope, irrigation availability and other management factors, the

size of the beds is formed.

Commonly, 6 x 6m or 8 x 8m bed sized is formed. Raised beds are formed

in water stagnating areas and special implements used for this purpose.

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Summary:

Tomato is mainly cultivated in two methods, viz., direct seeding and

transplanting and of them, latter is more predominant.

Direct seeding of tomato results in early flowering, early fruiting, early

maturity and less incidence of pests and diseases.

Transplanting method of planting comprises of two stages, such as raising

seedlings in nursery and transplanting in the main field.

About 1.2m to 1.5m width of nursery beds are preferred for tomato nursery.

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Summary:

Mould board plough is widely used in tomato cultivation and soil inversion

is main advantage.

Disc ploughs scoop-out the soil, turns it and grassy weedy fields, the

plough are highly useful.

Cultivator and disc harrows attached to the tractor are widely used for

secondary tillage operation.

Tomato is cultivated in ridges and furrows, flat bed and raised bed methods.

Ridges and furrow method is commonly practiced method in tomato.

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• 1.Tomato is mostly cultivated through transplanting method

(True/False).

• 2.Mould board plough is mainly used for secondary tillage

purpose (True/False).

• 3.Disc ploughs are preferred in grassy field (True/False).

• 4.Cultivator and disc harrows are widely used for secondary

tillage operation (True/False).

• 5.Ridges and furrow method is commonly practiced method in

tomato (True/False).

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References

Singh, S.P. 2000. Commercial fruits. Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana.

Kumar, N. 2000. Introduction to Horticulture. Rajalakshmi Publications,

Nagarcoil, Tamil Nadu.

Yellamanda Reddy, T. and G.H.Sankara Reddi. 2010. Principles of Agronomy.

Kalyani Publisher, Ludhiana.

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