Agriculture is one of the largest livelihood providers in India. Besides we see constant research and experiments in the agriculture sector that leads to various interesting innovations. One such instance we recently came across is 'Brimato'. This brings up the question, what is 'Brimato'. To simply put it forward - 'Brimato' is 'brinjal + tomato'. Researchers at ICAR in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, are growing both brinjal and tomato in one plant using grafting process. According to the official ICAR website, "At ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh after a successful field demonstration of Grafted Pomato (Potato + Tomato), the Dual Grafting of Brinjal and Tomato (Brimato) was demonstrated in the field during 2020-21." This procedure is a part of dual or multiple grafting technologies that has emerged as a "promising tool" to enhance productivity in vegetables.
ICAR also took to Twitter to share glimpses of the cultivation and wrote alongside, "Brimato: An Innovative Technology to produce Brinjal and Tomato in the same plant through Grafting." Take a look:
A report on the ICAR website reads that the grafting operation was carried out when the brinjal seedlings were 25-30 days old and tomato seedlings were 22-25 days old. These seedlings, for initial one week, were kept under controlled atmospheric condition. Post the grafting operation the grafted plants were transferred to the field in 15-18 days
"The experimental findings revealed that about 36.0 fruits with 2.383 Kg yields were harvested in Tomato / plant, while in Brinjal 2.684 Kg yields were obtained from 9.2 Fruits / plant," reports icar.org.in.
The researchers feel that 'Brimato' technology can be very yielding vegetables in urban and suburban areas. However, further research is needed to find about the commercial production of grafted 'Brimato'.