Indian agricultural scientists from ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh have successfully bred a plant that produces eggplants and tomatoes together, called brimato (brimato — (bri)njal, eggplant : to(mato)).In addition, each plant produces 2.64 kg of eggplants and 2.3 kg of tomatoes. There are already plans to cultivate the plant on an industrial scale.
A division of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Institute for Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi, have developed a grafting method that allows two vegetables to grow on the same plant.
“The grafting of tomatoes and eggplants was successful. They are both from the same family, although they have different characteristics, ” said, Anant Bahadur, Chief Scientist at IIVR
The novel grafting method has been studied for some time, Bahadur said, and brimato – an eggplant and tomato combination – had the greatest success.
According to the scientist, brimato is very hardy, being able to withstand both excessive waterlogging and drought.
Having so far grafted vegetables of the same family together, the scientists plan to try grafting vegetables of other families.
“When an eggplant is 25 to 30 days old and a tomato is 22 to 25 days old, they are grafted together,” stated Bahadur.
According to the scientist, eggplant is used as a base because of its frost resistance, and then two other vegetable plants are grafted onto it.
Plants are kept in a controlled environment after grafting with temperatures, humidity, and light carefully regulated.
For five to seven days, the brimato plant is kept in the shade. The entire grafting process generally takes 18 days, after which the plant is ready for transplanting in the field, explains Bahadur.
Brimato will be grown on a large scale. “In 60-70 days after planting, the plants begin to yield eggplants and tomatoes. Each plant produces up to 2.3 kg of tomatoes and 2.64 kg of eggplant, ” explains the scientist.
Using this method, Bahadur says that you can grow food in your kitchen and garden terrace. “In a small area, you can grow two different vegetables on the same bush,” he added.
In an effort to expand the cultivation of brimato, researchers and farmers are conducting research and experiments.
