Abstract

                                Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops and it plays significantrole in daily diet - and hence, it is considered as a vital commercial anddietary vegetable. During 2017-2018, the area under tomato cultivation inTamil Nadu was 29.08 ha. Even though the production is high, the farmersare struggling to meet out the demand of the growing population. The studyon the knowledge level of the farmers on recommended cultivation practicesis beneficial to assess the technology reach about the recommendedcultivation practices of tomato. The study was conducted in the Chellampattiblock of Madurai district. Ninety respondents were selected by employingproportionate random sampling technique. The Statistical tools such asmean, standard deviation and percentage analysis were used. Majority of therespondents (56.67%) had medium level of knowledge on recommendedpractices of tomato cultivation followed by high (22.22%) and low (21.11%)knowledge. Majority of the tomato growers (54.44%) had medium levelof adoption of tomato cultivation practices followed by low (30.00%) andhigh (15.56%) level of adoption. Cent percentage of the respondents werepossessed with the correct knowledge on practices like season of sowing,farmyard Manure, planting material, transplanting, spacing, manual weedingand symptom of harvest. They had insufficient knowledge on practices likeseed treatment with bio-fertilizer (22.22%), damping-off (33.33%), tomatospotted wilt (41.11%) and weedicide application (44.44%).

Key words : Tomato growers; Recommended cultivation practices; Knowledge level