Tomato Defender Quiz Quiz

Explore essential strategies and facts for managing tomato diseases in horticulture, including identification, prevention, and treatment. Assess your understanding of best agricultural practices for healthy tomato crops.

1. Identifying Early Blight Symptoms

   A tomato plant shows circular brown leaf spots with concentric rings, and some lower leaves are yellowing and falling off. What is the most likely disease affecting the plant?

   1. Late blight
   2. Early blight
   3. Powdery mildew
   4. Bacterial wilt

   Explanation: Early blight typically causes target-like spots and leaf yellowing starting at the bottom of the plant. Powdery mildew usually appears as white powdery growth, not brown rings. Late blight causes irregular, water-soaked lesions with white mold. Bacterial wilt leads to sudden wilting without distinctive spots.

2. Cultural Control Strategy

   Which cultural practice best reduces the spread of soil-borne fungal diseases in tomato crops?

   1. Crop rotation
   2. Growing tomatoes in the same place yearly
   3. Frequent overhead irrigation
   4. Dense plant spacing

   Explanation: Crop rotation interrupts the life cycle of soil-borne pathogens by changing host crops. Overhead irrigation can encourage disease by keeping leaves wet. Planting in the same location increases disease risk, and dense spacing reduces airflow, making disease more likely.

3. Virus Transmission Awareness

   How is Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV) most commonly spread in tomato fields?

   1. Flooding
   2. Insect vectors like aphids
   3. Contaminated hands and tools
   4. Wind-borne spores

   Explanation: ToMV is primarily spread through human contact with contaminated tools or hands. Unlike some plant viruses, aphids are not the main vectors. Wind and flooding do not efficiently transmit this virus; it's more about direct mechanical transfer.

4. Resistant Varieties in Disease Management

   A farmer wants to lower late blight risk without extensive chemical use. Which approach is most effective?

   1. Planting disease-resistant tomato varieties
   2. Increasing nitrogen fertilizer
   3. Removing flower buds early
   4. Frequent leaf trimming

   Explanation: Growing resistant varieties is an eco-friendly and effective way to prevent late blight. Excess nitrogen may make plants more susceptible to some diseases. Flower bud removal does not impact blight, and excessive leaf trimming can stress the plant.

5. Fungal Control Methods

   If a tomato crop develops powdery mildew, which management method is typically recommended as part of integrated disease control?

   1. Leaving infected plants untreated
   2. Watering late in the evening
   3. Applying sulfur-based fungicides
   4. Using broad-spectrum insecticides

   Explanation: Sulfur-based fungicides help control powdery mildew as part of an integrated approach. Insecticides do not treat fungal diseases, evening watering increases humidity favoring the fungus, and leaving infected plants untreated allows disease to spread.