Production and quality of tomato fruits under organic management

Abstract

Information about the production and quality of tomato cultivars under organic management and the conditions of climate and soil from the north region of Minas Gerais State, Brasil, are scarce. Thus, this research was carried out to evaluate the production and quality of tomato cultivars under organic management, in this region. The treatments consisted of four open pollination tomato cultivars (Chadwick Cherry, Pitanga vermelha, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Kada) and five hybrid cultivars (Marguerita, Nicolas, Ellen, Magestade and Dominador). The experimental design was of randomized blocks with three replications. The experiment was carried out using organic fertilization in the initial preparation of the area, compost and rock phosphate and sprays with Bordeaux mixture, neem oil and fertilizer. The marketable yield varied from 12.3 t ha-1 to 23.9 t ha-1. The hybrid Marguerita presented higher marketable production (23.9 t ha-1). The cultivars Chadwick Cherry and Pitanga Vermelha reached similar production as most cultivars and larger proportions of marketable and giant fruits, and therefore, better market quality. All the cultivars presented low potassium and manganese levels in foliar tissue suggesting an evaluation after various organic manuring cycles and better nutrition conditions are necessary to permit the comparison of the performance of cultivars in this system.