PTH-2: A multiple disease resistant hybrid of tomato

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), a member of family Solanaceae is the most popular and profitable summer vegetable crop due to its versatile uses, nutritive value, unique flavour and processability. It is the third most important vegetable after potato and onion in India, while second in the world after potato. Agro-statistics include India as second highest tomato producer in the world after China. In 2016, the growing area reached 760.0 thousand ha (6.28% of world tomato area), resulting in a total production of about 18.39 million tonnes (9.62% of the world tomato production), with an average productivity of 24.21 tonnes/ha (Anonymous 2016). In India, tomato crop is grown almost round the year, but cultivation of tomato is adversely affected due to high incidence of late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary and root knot caused by Meloidogyne species. These pathogens have enormous capacity to generate new forms