BANGALORE: The Asian Solanaceous Round Table meeting will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at Lalit Ashok Hotel.
Dr Manjunath Rao, convener of the organising committee and director of Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), said, “The meeting will bring together scientists working on crop improvement research in solanaceous vegetables like tomato, pepper and eggplants”.
This meet focuses on disease and pest resistance in tomato and pepper as both crops are ranked at the top in terms of acreage and commercial value at the seed and farm output level not only in Asia but globally, he explained.
According to Rao, tomatoes and peppers are grown on over 1.7 million hectares each with China and India are the top two in acreage in Asia.
Japan and Korea are ranked at the top in commercial seed value, Rao said.
“Both crops face biotic and abiotic stresses that reduce yield per unit by 50-100 per cent depending on the extent of disease or pest attacking the crop at a given time. There are multiple disease-resistant hybrids that have made it possible to extend the sowing window in each season,” Rao said.
The biggest threat to growers in South Asia and South-east Asia is the tospovirus disease, he added.
The Round Table meeting is jointly organised by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR-New Delhi), the Asia and Pacific Seed Association (Bangkok), IIHR (Bangalore) and the Society for Promotion of Horticulture (Bangalore), Rao said.