Agronomic evaluation of chonto tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) lines of determinate growth

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of the agronomic performance of five chonto tomato lines of determinate growth in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, with plants of indeterminate growth Unapal Maravilla as control. In the field, a randomized complete block design was used for four evaluations, with four replicates and five plants as an experimental unit, respectively. The final plant height for all the lines, except Unapal Maravilla, was evaluated between 90 and 100 d with no statistical differences (P<0.05) between treatments. The lines of determinate growth expressed no differences (P<0.05) with Unapal Maravilla for the number of clusters per plant and the number of fruits per cluster. At the same time, they surpassed Unapal Maravilla in fruit weight at 117 g/fruit (lines JV9, JV7, and JV12), and final yield was greater than 4 kg/plant. The lines of determinate growth at physiological maturity were similar to Unapal Maravilla in the uniform final color of fruits (cherry red), fruit shape round in equatorial diameter and slightly elongated in polar diameter, and number of locules (bicavitary); they expressed inferiority for total fruit solids between 3.5 and 3.6° Brix vs. 4.32° Brix to the control (P<0.05). The final height for the lines of determinate growth ranged between 97.7 and 109.0 cm, respectively, while the Unapal Maravilla plants had more than 200 cm in height.