A. Kajal, N. Verma and A. Khatkar
Abstract
Tomatoes are a widely cultivated horticultural crop with high economic value across the world. It gets attacked by several insect pests which adversely decrease fruit yield and quality. Pesticides are used for preventing the attack of insect pests and these chemicals are well known to enhance agricultural production. The extensive use of chemical pesticides to enhance the crop yield causes severe destruction to the nonspecific host. The present study investigated the effects of pesticide carbofuran, on various tomato varieties. Five different concentrations of carbofuran were applied to seedlings of four tomato varieties: Heem Sohna, Akra Samrat, Raseela, and Mohan 50. Morphological parameters such as the seed germination rate, root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, number of leaves, and leaf surface area as well as photosynthetic parameters including chlorophyll and carotenoid content were analyzed. The 1mg carbofuran concentration yielded the most favorable results, exhibiting optimal morphological and photosynthetic characteristics. Among the tested varieties, Heem Sohna shows the best performance under these conditions, suggesting its potential tolerance to the pesticide.