Effect of Mechanical Inoculation of Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus Disease on Disease Severity and Yield of Greenhouse Raised Tomatoes

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is popular both in fresh market and processing industries. Tomato yields are limited by diseases, Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV) disease being one of them. A study was conducted in a greenhouse to determine the effect of mechanical inoculation of tomato spotted wilt tospovirus on the severity of the disease on tomato varieties Cal J, Marglobe, Money maker, Roma and Riogrande and its impact on yield. The experiment was arranged in a split plot design replicated four times. Tomatoes variety Cal J was most severely affected by the disease whereas Marglobe and Riogrande were least affected. Mechanical inoculation reduced total yield of Cal J, Riogrande, Money maker, Marglobe and Roma by 60, 55.3, 45.1, 40.3 and 27%, respectively. Marketable yield was reduced significantly by inoculation for the varieties except for Roma with a slight reduction in marketable yield that was not statistically significant from healthy controls. Roma was shown to be a tolerant variety that can be given to resource poor farmers as a component of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system for control of TSWV in order to realize higher marketable yields.