Morphoagronomic characterization of five mutant varieties of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) cultivated using the hydroponic technique under greenhouse conditions

Abstract

The research was conducted at the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of El Salvador, between June 2019 and February 2020. It consisted of the morphoagronomic characterization of tomato varieties: Magine, Carucha, Domi, Dodel and Decia, obtained by gamma irradiation at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA, Cuba) in comparison with the Sevaco variety (control). The tomato plants were cultivated in pots (#12) under greenhouse conditions using as substrate coconut fiber and volcanic slag. The statistical design was a Randomized Complete Blocks (DBCA). Data analysis was carried out with the statistical software InfoStat and for the multivariate analysis with the software PAST3. The qualitative variables evaluated were: type of growth, longitudinal fruit shape, external color of unripe fruit and external color of ripe fruit. And the quantitative variables: days to germination, percent germination, days to transplanting, days to flowering, days to harvest, stem diameter, plant height, number of locules, fruit per plant, number of cuttings, fruit weight, fruit hardness, number of seeds in one gram, shelf life andsoluble solids in ripe fruit. The Carucha variety presented a flattened longitudinal shape, Decia, Dodel, Domi and Magine presented a slightly flattened shape, and Sevaco presented a rounded shape. The varieties Dodel, Decia, Magine and Sevaco, presented indeterminate growth type and Carucha and Domi, semi-determinate growth. Furthermore, the Dodel variety showed the best result in terms of average fruit weight of 67.16 grams, although less quantity of fruits (12 average fruits) and the Decia, Magine and Sevaco varieties, showed greater quantities of fruits with 19, 19 and 22 fruits and lower average weights of 33.88, 34.63 and 34.23 grams, respectively, (p<0.05) . The Sevaco variety showed better plant height with 131.90 centimeters and a coefficient of variation of 17.79%, in contrast to the Carucha variety, which showed lower average height of 92.80 centimeters