Farmers are likely to be in favour of Hybrid seeds as it gives better yield as compared to local varieties. The choice is being made on the basis of Transportation. Hybrid Tomatoes are made of thick outer cover, which is less perishable and which can be withstanding for more than a week. Beside yield there are more considerable factors for choice of Hybrid such as size of Tomato, color of tomato, Weight of Tomato etc.

The tomato is mainly a self-pollinated crop but a certain percentage of cross-pollination has also been recorded. The seed along with the pulp is left in a wooden container to ferment for two to three days before extraction. The seed is then extracted by vigorous stirring and washing. The acid or alkali method is used, 100ml of HCL acid is thoroughly mixed and stirred for every 11kg of pulp. The pulp is then again stirred and the seed washed. The seed yield varies with the variety. The average is about 100 to 120kg per hectare. The isolation distance of 50 to 100m is kept between two varieties for seed production.

Choice of seeds

After seed production, diseased, broken seeds are discarded. The seeds for sowing should be free from inert matter. Early germinating, bold, uniform in shape and size, seeds are selected for sowing. Hybrid seeds from F1 generation are advantageous for sowing as it gives early and high yield uniform fruity, resistant to adverse environmental conditions.

Tomato is generally cultivated by transplanting seedlings on ridges and furrows. At the time of transplanting seedlings are harder by exposing to open weather or by withholding irrigation. A general seed rate of 400 to 500g/ha is required ( Please consult the seed company before  deciding the relevant seed rate).

Seeds are generally treated with Thiram @ 3g/kg of seed to protect from seed born diseases. Seed treatment with B. naphthoxyacetic acid (BNOA) at 25 and 50 ppm, gibberllic acid (GA3) at 5-20 ppm and chlorophenoxy acetic at 10 and 20 ppm was found to improve the growth and yield of tomato.

Seeds are sown in June July for autumn winter crop and for spring summer crop seeds are sown in November. In the hills seed is sown in March April. The spacing recommended for the autumn winter crop is 75 x 60cm and for spring summer crop 75 x 45cm.

Before transplanting seedlings are harder by exposing to open weather or by withholding irrigation. Seedlings should be transplanted in running irrigation water. Seedling must be placed in the moist soil without bending the tap root system. The bending of root at the time of transplanting leads to poor establishment of the seedlings. For preparing plants in nursery 125-150 gram per hectare seeds of hybrid variety and 300-400 gram per hectare seeds of local variety are sufficient.