India, the world's second-largest tomato producer, cultivates the crop across 0.76 million hectares with an average productivity of 24 tons per hectare. However, less than 1% of this yield is processed, in contrast to the 26% processing rate in other leading tomato-producing countries. This limits value addition and reduces alignment with market and export requirements.
The sector faces several challenges, including biotic stresses such as tomato leaf curl virus (TYLCV), bacterial wilt, and blights, which in humid conditions can reduce yields by over 50%. Abiotic stresses such as heat waves, irregular rainfall, and prolonged droughts also impact production. In addition, regional variation in consumer preferences and specific processing requirements, such as high total soluble solids and shelf life, complicate production and supply chain alignment.
The World Vegetable Center is using advanced breeding strategies to address these constraints. One approach, gene pyramiding, combines multiple resistance genes to develop lines with tolerance to disease and environmental stresses. These lines have been tested in multi-location trials for heat resilience and resistance to whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses, including TYLCV.
In March 2025, Assaf Eybishitz, a tomato breeder at WorldVeg headquarters in Taiwan, visited the South and Central Asia Regional Centre in India to review ongoing trials. Activities included field visits, evaluation, and data collection on APSA program lines and newly developed hybrids bred by the WorldVeg India team led by Srinivasa Reddy Yerva. These hybrids are being evaluated for adaptation to changing climatic conditions and resistance requirements.
Seventeen advanced elite tomato lines with multiple disease resistance were also assessed using two commercial F1 hybrids for comparative analysis. Selected top-performing lines will undergo further validation in the next growing season. New tomato genetic material adapted to Indian conditions was also tested, with selections to be screened in future seasons.
Dr. Eybishitz also visited the Vegetable Research Station at Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticulture University. He was a keynote speaker at a workshop on 5 March 2025, where he presented "The power of vegetables: innovating tomato breeding at the World Vegetable Center" and participated in a field visit and grower survey.
These efforts aim to align tomato breeding outputs with regional environmental conditions and production system needs.
Source: WVC