Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine how the size of the uniformity trial influences the estimation of cherry tomato plot size. The size of plot required to evaluate the mean length of fruit per plant, mean fruit width per plant, mean fruit weight per plant, number of bunches per plant, number of fruits per bunch, number of fruits per plant and total weight of fruits per plant was estimated in uniformity trials in two greenhouses: large (250 m²) and small (200 m²). In each greenhouse and row, and for each variable, 3000 plot size estimates were obtained by resampling and used to determine of 97.5 and 2.5% percentiles. Each row needs to be treated as a specific uniformity trial because of significant row variability. It is recommended that uniformity trials are carried out on 35 plants in the large greenhouse and 23 plants in the small greenhouse in order to estimate cherry tomato production variables at a confidence interval of 30% of the mean.
Highlights
A growing of vegetable crops species is of primary importance to the Brazilian economy
There was variability among the crop rows for these estimates, which was more marked for mean fruit length, mean fruit width and mean fruit weight in the large greenhouse, and mean fruit width and number of fruits per bunches in the small greenhouse
The difference in the estimated plot size and CI 95% is the result of heteroskedasticity among the crop rows, a common phenomenon in vegetable crops grown in a protected environment (LORENTZ et al, 2005, LÚCIO et al, 2008, 2011, 2012)
Summary
A growing of vegetable crops species is of primary importance to the Brazilian economy. Among the vegetable crops species, the tomato crop has the greater importance. Tomatoes were grown on 63,717 hectares in 2017, producing over 4 million tons (IBGE, 2017). The cherry tomato fruit is characterized by its reduced size. They are used as decoration or aperitif snacks (GUSMÃO; GUSMÃO; ARAÚJO, 2006) and command a high commercial value compared to other types of tomato. Due to reduced size of the fruit, the cherry tomato production was directly related with the number of fruits per plant and not with the fruit size as in salad tomato (SARI et al, 2017)
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