Mitigating Climate Change Impact on Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) under Protected Cultivation

Under the climate change scenario, protected cultivation may possibly provide ample scope for ‘off'season production of high-value vegetable crops. Among the highvalue crops, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) is most important and rich sources of lycopene, β-carotene, phenols, flavonoids and many vitamins. The performances of eight tomato varieties, namely Himsona, Naveen, NS-524, Red Beauty (cherry tomato), Arka Samrat, Abhilash, Shahenshah and Arka Rakshak in terms of their yield and quality parameters under polyhouse condition were evaluated. Conducive temperature and relative humidity inside polyhouse were maintained in the range of 26–28°C and 65–90%, respectively. The total fruit weight/plant ranged from 3.50 to 10.45 kg/plant and was maximum in Himsona with minimum in Red Beauty. The fruit number per plant varied from 69 to 700, and individual fruit weight ranged from 5.0 to 88.0 g. Himsona registered higher yield along with maximum marketable shelf life (12 days) as compared with other cultivars. Red Beauty recorded higher lycopene content besides total soluble solid (TSS) and TSS/acidity ratio at red-ripe stage. Thus, Himsona and Red Beauty can be used for cultivation under protected condition in subtropical areas for higher yield and quality.