FRUITS GROWTH AND POSTHARVEST CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIVE TOMATO GENOTYPES (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important vegetables in the world, with a per capita consumption of 20.2 kg. Mexico is considered as a domestication center of this species and has a wide morphological diversity of fruits, such as kidney-shape, cherry, deer eye (OV), creole chinese (CC), pear, globe-shape, and saladette types, as well as genetic variability in chemical composition, pests and diseases resistance and adaptation to extreme growing conditions. Native materials can be used in breeding programs for the development of varieties with characteristics that have been lost in commercial varieties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and physicochemical traits related with fruit quality of eight tomato genotypes native to Veracruz and Puebla, Mexico, along with an experimental hybrid (CP-HER) and a commercial hybrid (CID-HC), classified into five groups (cherry, OV, CC, kidney and saladette) in which growth was measured from fruit set to harvest. Fruits were harvested in the breaking stage (Stage 1) and red stage (Stage 4) and evaluated at 0, 7 and 14 days under storage. The traits evaluated were weight loss, color, firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acidity and sugars. Results showed that the earliest fruits to reach their maximum size and ripening of consumption were those of cherry type LOR88 at 59 days after flowering. Fruits of the CC LOR102 genotype showed greater initial firmness, but showed a significant decrease during storage, in addition to being susceptible to fungal attack along with the kidney-type fruits. Genotypes with potential to be used as a source of germplasm to increase sweetness were kidney LOR77 and LOR119; the ones with the longest shelf life were those belonging to the cherry type, and those with the greatest firmness were CC LOR102 and kidney LOR82.