‘Solar Dancer’ is a heat-tolerant (HT) fresh market hybrid tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) that has resistance to three tospoviruses, Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), Groundnut ringspot virus (GRSV), and Tomato chlorotic spot virus (TCSV); this resistance is conferred by the Sw-5 gene. It also carries resistance to all three races of fusarium wilt incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Compared with most existing cultivars, Solar Dancer has superior fruit-setting ability under high temperatures (>32 °C day/>21 °C night). The interior fruit color is deep red due to its homozygosity for the crimson (ogc) gene, and fruit have demonstrated very good resistance to cracking and other defects. There are few acceptable HT tomato cultivars adapted to Florida conditions that have combined tospovirus and fusarium wilt race 3 resistance. ‘Solar Dancer’ has performed consistently well on the peninsula of Florida, where its high yield potential and good fruit marketability make it an attractive cultivar choice. The seed parent of the hybrid is Fla. 8814, which is the tospovirus and fusarium wilt race 3–resistant parent. The pollen parent is Fla. 8925, which provides the heat tolerance to the hybrid.
Origin
‘Solar Dancer’ is an F1 hybrid that was tested as Fla. 8982. Its pedigree is shown in Fig. 1. Fla. 8814 is its source of resistance to TSWV, GRSV, TCSV, and fusarium wilt race 3. Fla. 8814 resulted from the selfing of Fla. 8684, a hybrid between Fla. 7804 and NC 1 CS. The I-3 gene for Fol3 resistance is from Fla. 7804, a UF/IFAS breeding line release that was used as an F7 in the final cross that resulted in the development of Fla. 7946 (Scott, 2004). The Sw-5 gene for tospovirus resistance comes from NC 1 CS, an inbred line released from North Carolina State University (Panthee and Gardner, 2011). Fla. 8814 is homozygous for the ogc gene for higher lycopene, as are both of its parents. Fla. 8925 is the HT parent of ‘Solar Dancer’. The HT of this parent comes from Fla. 8044, an excellent HT inbred line with this trait in the background of both its parents. The HT in Fla. 7722 traces to Fla. 7171, which is the HT parent in the hybrid ‘Solar Set’ (Scott et al., 1988). The HT in Fla. 7906 traces to Fla. 7236 in both Fla. 7756 (Scott et al., 2009) and in Fla. 7744. Fla. 8925 is homozygous for the ogc gene, as are both Fla. 8044 and Fla. 8027.
Pedigree of ‘Solar Dancer’ hybrid tomato.
Citation: HortScience horts 55, 5; 10.21273/HORTSCI14889-20
Pedigree of ‘Solar Dancer’ hybrid tomato.
Citation: HortScience horts 55, 5; 10.21273/HORTSCI14889-20
Pedigree of ‘Solar Dancer’ hybrid tomato.
Citation: HortScience horts 55, 5; 10.21273/HORTSCI14889-20
Description
‘Solar Dancer’ has a strong, medium to large size, determinate (sp) vine with good fruit cover. Fruit of the hybrid are large (Tables 1 and 2) with uniform green shoulders (u or ug gene), a deep flat-round shape, and smooth blossom scars. Fruit maintain a regular symmetrical shape and have demonstrated good resistance against radial and concentric cracking as well as cuticle cracking, as reflected by the low cull rates across multiseason hybrid trials (Tables 1 and 2). ‘Solar Dancer’ has yielded well relative to commercial controls in these trials (Tables 1 and 2), and maturity is early under high-temperature conditions (Table 1). As such, this hybrid may provide an attractive option for growers during the early fall Florida production season, as well as for growers in other areas where its disease resistances and heat tolerance are desirable. In addition, ‘Solar Dancer’ may be well-suited as a main-season variety in various production areas of the Southeast. The fruit flavor of the hybrid was rated over several seasons by Hutton as a 3 (acceptable) on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Fruit firmness and exterior color were comparable to those of other commercial hybrids (Table 3). The internal flesh and locule color are deep red, typical of tomatoes with the crimson (ogc) gene. The interior L* and hue angle scores for ‘Solar Dancer’ were similar to those of Tasti-Lee®, also a crimson hybrid, and these were lower than the L* and hue angle scores for other noncrimson hybrids, indicating a darker and deeper red color. Fruit size of ‘Solar Dancer’ averaged ≈180 g.
Early and total marketable yields, percent culls, and average fruit size for selected tomato genotypes harvested at the vine-ripe stage during early fall seasons in Florida.
Total marketable yields, percent culls, and average fruit size for selected tomato hybrids harvested during the vine-ripe stage in multiple seasons in Florida.
External color, internal color, and firmness for selected tomato hybrids grown at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, FL, during Fall 2018 and Fall 2017.
Fla. 8814 has a medium to large determinate vine with good fruit cover. Fruit are medium to large (≈145 g), flat-round (oblate), and highly symmetrical in shape. Fruit are highly tolerant to common fruit disorders and have excellent blossom scar smoothness, likely due to the n-2 nipple tip gene (Barten et al., 1994). Fla. 8925 has a medium determinate vine that produces fruit that are large (≈180 g) and generally tolerant to common fruit disorders. Heat tolerance in Fla. 8925 is demonstrated by its high yield and early maturity under high temperatures (Table 1). Both Fla. 8814 and Fla. 8925 have shown good performance in hybrid combinations with other parents.
Disease Resistance
‘Solar Dancer’ is homozygous for resistance to fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici) races 1 and 2 (I and I-2 genes) and heterozygous for resistance to race 3 (I-3 gene). It is homozygous for the Sm gene for resistance to gray leafspot (Stemphyllium sp.), and it is heterozygous for resistance to TSWV, GRSV, TCSV, and other tospoviruses against which Sw-5 is effective (Table 4) and for the Ve gene for resistance to verticillium wilt race 1 (Verticillium dahliae). Fla. 8814 is the donor of the I-3 (Table 5), Sw-5, and the Ve genes, and both Fla. 8814 and Fla. 8925 carry the I, I-2, and Sm genes. Fla. 8925 is susceptible to the fruit disorder graywall, but Fla. 8814 is highly resistant. Slight graywall symptoms have been observed in ‘Fla. 8982’ under conditions of very high graywall pressure. ‘Fla. 8982’ is tolerant of most common fruit disorders, but it has expressed slight zippering under some conditions, and late-maturing fruit have, on occasion, shown slight pointiness of the blossom scar.
Response of tomato genotypes to thrips inoculation with Tomato spotted wilt virus at the transplant stage in Fall 2017.
Response of tomato genotypes to inoculation with race 3 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (107 spores/mL) at the cotyledon stage.
Availability
Seeds of ‘Solar Dancer’, Fla. 8814, and Fla. 8925 are being released through the Florida Foundation Seed Producers (FFSP), P.O. Box 309, Greenwood, FL 32443 (http://ffsp.net). A seed company will be solicited for exclusive rights to produce commercial seed of ‘Solar Dancer’. Small quantities of seed for research purposes are available from S.F. Hutton under an MTA. If Fla. 8814 or Fla. 8925 are used for developing other commercial hybrids, then users should contact FFSP to discuss a royalty contract.
Literature Cited
Barten, J.H.N., Scott, J.W. & Gardner, R.G. 1994 Characterization of blossom-end morphology genes in tomato and their usefulness in breeding for smooth blossom-end scars J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 119 798 803
Panthee, D.R. & Gardner, R.G. 2011 ‘Mountain Majesty’: A tomato spotted wilt virus-resistant fresh-market hybrid tomato and its parents NC 714 and NC 1CS HortScience 46 1321 1323
Scott, J.W., Olson, S.M., Bryan, H.H., Howe, T.K., Stofella, P.J. & Bartz, J.A. 1988 Solar Set: A heat tolerant, fresh market tomato hybrid. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. S-259
Scott, J.W. 2004 Fla. 7946 tomato breeding line resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici races 1, 2, and 3 HortScience 39 440 441
Scott, J.W., Olson, S.M. & Bartz, J.A. 2009 ‘Tribeca’ Hybrid Tomato; Fla. 8124C and Fla. 8249 Breeding Lines HortScience 44 471 473
