Industrial tomato lines: morphological properties and productivity

Abstract

The tomato is the second most produced vegetable in the world, with significant participation in the human diet. In addition, the production of tomatoes generates jobs and family income. The availability of improved cultivars that provide greater profitability to the producer and satisfactorily meets the needs of the fresh fruit market and the processing industry becomes imperative due to its importance. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize and select industrial tomato lines in regard to fruit yield, number of leaf branches, and number of flower racemes (NFR). The experiment was conducted in 2014 in the experimental area of the Federal University of Goiás (Universidade Federal de Goiás). The design was a randomized block design with four replicates and 25 genotypes. The number of leaf branches (NB), NFR, and fruit productivity were evaluated. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and the means compared by the Tukey test. A difference was observed (P ≤ 0.01) for all traits analyzed. The NB and NFR were related, where more branches promoted an increase in NFR and thus the productivity increases. In addition, a greater number of fruits implied in smaller fruit size, and consequently lower fruit mass. The lowest number of fruit per plant caused increased fruit size and mass. The lines CVR 1, CVR 3, CVR 4, CVR 5, CVR 21, and CVR 22 were suitable for genetic enhancement of tomato and provided the greatest productivity.