Effect of low inputs and salinity on yield and quality – A 3 year study in virus-resistant tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) breeding lines and hybrids

Abstract

Six Muchamiel and De la pera breeding lines with different combinations of genes that confer resistance to ToMV, TYLCV and TSWV, and two heterozygous hybrids, were evaluated under low input and saline conditions during 2016, 2017 and 2018. The results revealed that low inputs reduced the yield and fruit quality in both tomato cultivars and increased the incidence of blossom-end rot in De la pera. However, De la pera tomatoes grown under this condition tended to maintain a higher yield and fruit quality than Muchamiel, which suggests a better adaptation to these minimum requirements. Both De la pera and Muchamiel hybrids produced very low yields in low input conditions, although they showed the best performance in conventional and saline conditions. Generally, the moderate electrical conductivity used in the saline system (irrigation water of around 6 dS/m) improved the quality of all the tomato plants, especially the total soluble solids content, but caused yield reductions of around 10–15% in almost all the lines and hybrids. Finally, the results pointed to the better behaviour of the breeding lines without the Ty-1 gene, while both hybrids showed higher yields than triple homozygous lines under conventional and saline systems.