The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Forget about rotten tomatoes

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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Forget about rotten tomatoes

B.S. Satish Kumar

UAS Bangalore’s Biotechnology Department to develop a variety that stays for a month

Research likely to be completed in two years
Krishi Mela a hit with farmers

BANGALORE: Tired of tomatoes rotting within days of purchase? Wait, it is question of time before you get new tomato varieties which will have a shelf life of 30 to 40 days instead of the present varieties that will last for about a week.

The Biotechnology Department of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, has taken up a research project to increase the shelf life of tomatoes. The project has started showing positive results. According to university officials, the research on the new tomato variety with a shelf life of 30 to 40 days is expected to be completed in about two years. The counting of shelf life duration begins after the fruit ripens.

A brief mention about this research project has been made at a stall put up by the BT Department in Krishi Mela-2009 which is on at the UAS, Bangalore, campus. The university officials said such a project would not only reduce inconvenience for consumers, but also help farmers as well as the country by reducing post-harvest losses in tomato crop. While post-harvest losses are more in perishable commodities like vegetables, the losses are particularly of higher level in tomato crop.

Meanwhile, the four-day Krishi Mela which is under way in the UAS is becoming a hit with farmers as a large number of them are visiting it. Farmers had come from distant places such as Dakshina Kannada to update their knowledge on recent crop varieties and innovative practices.

Such was the crowd at the mela on the second day (Friday) that it was difficult to move freely. But nobody was complaining as everyone was busy visiting stalls or having counselling session with agricultural experts.

The saplings of gum-less variety of jackfruit were in great demand at the mela from farmers.

These plants had been displayed at a stall put by the Bio-Resources Complex Project, a pilot project of the Union Biotechnology Department, which is being implemented by the UAS-B with a mandate to increase the incomes of farmers. The stall has sold about 1,000 gum-free varieties of jackfruit plants on the first day of the mela. The gum content is said to be lesser by about 80 per cent in this variety when compared with normal jackfruit variety.

The animal husbandry and poultry section which had displayed different varieties of sheep and goat weighing more than 100 kg and varieties of poultry birds including emu were also centre of attraction.

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