Response of selected tomato varieties (Solanum lycopersicum) to tomato yellow leaf curl virus

Lack of tomato varieties that are tolerant to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) is the major problem that hinders the control and management of TYLCV severity on tomato plants. The pathogen is transmitted from leaf to leaf by a vector, silver leaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and due to the large population of whiteflies, and their ability to develop pesticide resistance, vector seclusion and use of synthetic chemicals to control the disease is not an ideal way of fighting the spread and damage induced by tomato yellow leaf curl virus. Therefore this study focused on screening forthe tomato varieties with tolerance to TYLCV. Six different varieties of tomatoes (Prostar F1, Ann F1, Faulu Tomato, Money Maker Tomato, Cal J Tomato and Rio Grande Tomato) were grown in the green house in a Completely Randomized Design with 6 treatments replicated 3 times in pots of medium size 2kgs. One month after transplantation, disease inoculation was done through injection of tomato varieties with a solution made from tomato samples infected by TYLCV. Then careful observation was undertaken to evaluate the severity of the disease in the different tomato varieties. The varieties were then examined at the recommendable stage to identify the tomato varieties that expressed tolerance to tomato yellow leaf curl disease. Data collection started 7 days after inoculation in 7 days interval for 21days, Parameters assessed were disease severity and the number of flowers. The severity data on a 1-6 scale and the data on the number of flowers were subjected to Analysis Of Variance on Genstat statistical software version14.1. Significance difference between varieties of tomato was tested at 5% level of significance and means differences separated by Turkey’s test. Prostar F1 and Ann F1 were found to be the most tolerant varieties to TYLCV whereas Money Maker and Cal J were moderately tolerant to the virus and Faulu tomato and Rio Grande were the most susceptible varieties to the disease. Farmers and plant breeders should use tolerant varieties e.g. Prostar F1 to improve tomato production.