Vegetable Grafting: A Scientific Innovation to Enhance Productivity and Profitability of Tomato Growers under Climate Change

Gajanan L. Sawargaonkar ^1* Rohan Y. Khopade ¹ Rakesh S ¹ Moses Shyam Davala ¹ Kishore K K ² Yeshwanth Siddam ¹ Ramesh Singh ¹ Mangi Lal Jat ¹

• ¹ International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India
• ² Heirloom Seedling and Plants Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, India

Vegetable grafting is a recent innovation in vegetable cultivation that has great potential for enhancing crop productivity and profitability in climate change scenarios, besides its potential to reduce the cost of cultivation owing to reduced pesticide usage. The present strategic research focused on assessing the performance of grafted and non-grafted tomato varieties (PHS-448 & Sahoo) in Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse (NVPH) and open field (OF) conditions. The results revealed that grafted tomatoes expressed significantly higher values of growth parameters, i.e., leaf area and chlorophyll content, thereby recording significantly higher total yield over non-grafted tomatoes. The grafted tomato cultivars, viz, PHS-448 and Sahoo, recorded an increased total yield of 36.65 % and 46.7% compared to their non-grafted ones. Growing grafted tomatoes under NVPH conditions increased yields by 63.79% due to an increased number of pickings (3 to 5 numbers) compared to non-grafted tomatoes grown under open field conditions. The system productivity followed similar yield trends and revealed significant (p<0.05) variation across all picking stages. The profitability analysis (gross and net monetary returns and benefit-cost ratio) showed that grafted combinations grown under NVPH are more profitable than the non-grafted ones grown in NVPH and open field conditions. The multiple regression analysis revealed a strong correlation (R¬2= >90.0) of yield with plant height, middle leaves chlorophyll, and leaf area, irrespective of the grafted combinations. The present investigation concluded that cultivating grafted tomatoes helps farmers achieve maximum production and profitability in NVPH and open field conditions. Thus, a proper policy framework is critical to promote and scale up grafted vegetable cultivation to enhance the profitability of the farming community in climate change scenarios.