Evaluation of Adaptation and Yield of Commercial Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Hybrids under Mulching and Technified Fertilization and Irrigation
in HortScienceIn the world horticultural production, the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) contributes with the 47% of the destined area. In Mexico, 10% of the area is cultivated under intensive systems, where is used one or more technologies for obtaining higher productivity and quality; however, the environmental conditions are determinant factors to produce red tomato in the dry tropic, influencing the adaptation and persistence in the market. The aim of this research was to evaluate the adaptation and yield performance of tomato hybrids in fresh production under mulching, fertilization and irrigation. The tomato cultivars used were: `Access', `Centurion', `Bishop', `Dean', and `Yaqui' (control). They were distributed under a Completely randomized blocks design with four replications. The experiment was carried out in Villa de Alvarez, Colima, México. `Yaqui' exhibited the highest plant height 98.8 cm, as web as the highest fruit diameter with 4.61 cm; `Bishop' produced the highest number with 154.5 fruits per plant, followed by `Yaqui', and `Centurion', with 91 fresh fruits. In the variable fruit weight, `Yaqui' showed 93.44 g. In total fresh fruit yield per plant, `Yaqui' produced the highest yield with 8.46 kg, followed by `Bishop' with 4.91 kg; and total yield of 117.5, and 68.2 t·ha-1, respectively. Yaqui' was the genotype with best adaptation and agronomic characteristics. We speculate that environment conditions in field are determinant factors in the introduction of new tomato introductions.
