Baldev S Chauhan |
Delhi/ Shimla
February 14, 2006
Last Updated at 00:00 IST
New tomato varieties bloom in Himachal
| Not only will these tomato hybrid varieties be redder and larger, they will also last much longer and grow in plenty.
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| Two new hybrid tomato varieties have been developed by farmers of the Parmar Horiculture University in Himachal Pradesh, and could set a tomato revolution in the terraced fields of the mid hills across the country.
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| "Named 'Solan Sindoor' and 'Solan Garima', these two varieties can be grown at altitudes ranging from 1200 m to 1600 m, and will produce around 60 tons of the vegetable per hectare," said scientist UKKohli, head of the vegetable department of the Parmar university, some 65 km from here.
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| "While 'garima' was developed some months ago and has impressed everyone by its trials, 'sindoor' has just been developed by the scientists of the univeristy," Kohli told Business Standard.
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| The seeds of these two hybrid varieties will soon be available to farmers for growing, say university officials.
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| Since these varieties can be grown in the mid-hills, farmers from other hill states are also expected to reap benefits.
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| The Solan district produces a bulk of the tomatoes in Himachal and is often called the 'tomato bowl' of the hill state.
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| Tomato is a highly perishable fruit and rarely lasts even a week here often causing losses to farmers. But these latest varieties will easily last atleast two weeks, giving enough time for trnasporting them to markets far and wide. |
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