Heterosis and combining ability of dual-purpose tomato hybrids developed to meet family farmers' needs in Brazil and Mozambique

Abstract

Brazil is the world eighth largest tomato producer and, within the country, the tomato production chain is segmented according to fruit destination: fresh consumption and processing (industrial supply). In contrast, Mozambique does not have a differentiated chain and cultivars are expected to serve both purposes. As there are no tomato breeding programs in Mozambique, cultivars used in the country come from other regions of the world, including Brazil. This paper describes the development and assessment of tomato hybrids with dual-purpose: fresh use and processing. Five tomato genotypes (B13LD, Castone, Massag-72, "Viradoro", and "Rio Grande") were crossed in complete diallel design without reciprocal, and the general and specific combining ability (GCA and SCA) and heterosis were estimated to ten agronomic and fruit quality traits. The offspring of cross B13LD x "Rio Grande" showed potential for use in dual purpose, considering SCA and heterosis estimates for fruit firmness (FF), total content of soluble solids (TSS), number of fruits per plant (NFP) and yield (YLD). Combinations B13LD x Castone, Massag-72 x "Viradoro", and Massag-72 x "Rio Grande", although having no strength to increase YLD, had positive heterosis for FF, TSS, and NFP. The development of high-yielding genotypes, with agronomic traits that meet the expectations of both markets are a breakthrough for Mozambican tomato producers and may also be very convenient to family farmers in Brazil. In both countries, these dual-purpose cultivars represent the freedom of choice to farmers, who will be then in position to allocate their production to the most profitable market segment.