Ivi Chakraborty

Crops that feed the world 5. Sweetpotato. Sweetpotatoes for income and food security

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) is a tuber crop of immense potential as it produces more edible energy on marginal land than any other major food crop. As well as this useful property it can withstand adverse abiotic and biotic stresses and does not require intensive care. It therefore plays an important role in the economy of poor households where it acts as a major source of subsistence and is considered to be a ‘famine relief crop’. Besides this important function, the crop has immense industrial value for extraction of starch and production of animal feed. For all these reasons sweetpotato has great possibilities for enhancing food and nutrition security in developing and underdeveloped countries where most of the farmers’ holdings belong to the small and marginal categories. Although the crop is assuming greater significance owing to the ever-increasing population its importance is still underestimated and, unlike most staples, fails to attract sufficient attention of agricultural researchers throughout the tropics and subtropics. With greater attention and more collaborative research, there could be considerable improvements in the genetics of the crop and its husbandry which, together, would allow it to fulfill a wide range of needs in these areas of the world.

Characterization of Determinate Tomato Hybrids: Search for Better Processing Qualities

Thirty-one determinate tomato hybrids developed by both public and private sectors in India over the years were characterized in order to select the most appropriate hybrids for processing purpose. The performance of each hybrid was evaluated using certain physical and chemical indices. Most quality indices showed significant differences between hybrids, although their values remained in the typical ranges for processing tomatoes. In our study, two pear shaped private bred hybrids (BSS-423; TH-1359) qualified all the physico-chemical characteristics required for processing. However, three round shaped public (BCTH-62 and BCTH-4) and private (Vijay Lakshmi) bred hybrids also showed great promise for requisite qualification. The promising hybrids also showed high yield potential (> 60.0 t/ha) which is the general acceptance criteria among the farmers. The correlation study indicates some significant positive relationship between polar diameter and pericarp thickness, equatorial diameter and locule number, titratable acidity and vitamin C content, and lycopene and total carotenoids content of the fruit. The data generated in this study is of equal significance for the growers as well as for the tomato processors in the long run.