Grafting once again demonstrates its value in overcoming plant diseases in the field.

On 5 January 2021, the Grow Against the Flow project implemented by the World Vegetable Center and East-West Seed-Knowledge Transfer (EWS-KT), organized a field day on tomato grafting to manage bacterial wilt disease in Srangae Tboung village, Srangae commune of Prey Chhor district in Kompongcham province, Cambodia. A total of 23 farmers including 9 women participated in the event.

The owner of the demonstration field presented techniques including seedling production for rootstock and scion, construction of a healing chamber, selection of appropriate seedlings for grafting, and other crop management practices such as field preparation, water and fertilizer applications, and pest and disease management.

“During the field observation, participants realized and recognized the advantages of grafted plants in comparison with non-grafted plants,” said Uon Bonnarith, Provincial Coordinator –Cambodia, who represented WorldVeg at this event. “No bacterial wilt disease was observed in grafted plants in all the beds, whereas about 25% of the non-grafted plants were damaged by bacterial wilt and damping off.” Symptoms of calcium deficiency were more prevalent in fruit from non-grafted plants.

The farmers who attended the field day were excited to see the results of this trial and they are committed to adopting the best practices for tomato cultivation in the next wet season.

Grow Against the Flow is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.