Tomato a cultivated solanaceous perennial plant, Lycopersicon esculentum, bearing a mildly acid, pulpy fruit, commonly red, sometimes yellow, used as vegetable. Tomato is rich in vitamin A, C, calcium and phosphorus; used as fresh or cooked, and are ingredients for salad, soup, pickle, chatney, ketchup, sauce etc. Tomato is native to Tropical America. In Bangladesh, the area of cultivation is about 13,066 ha with the production of about 74,000 m tons. Tomato plants are of two types: determinate and indeterminate. Indeterminate type terminates in a vegetative bud, whereas determinate type terminates in a flower bud. Seedlings of 25-30 days are usually planted in November-December; crops are ready for harvest in 80-90 days; average yield is 40-50 m tons/ha.

Oxheart, Marglobe, Sunmargino, Roma VF, Pusa Rubi are some popular tomato varieties. Recently BARI developed 10 varieties of tomato namely, Ratan, Manik, BARI Tomato-3, BARI Tomato-4, BARI Tomato-5, Chaiti, Apurba, Shila, Lalima and Anupama. BARI Tomato-4, BARI Tomato-5, Chaiti, Lalima and Anupama (hybrid) can also be grown in warm season. [AKM Matiar Rahman]