Determinación del desarrollo del fruto en los cultivares establecidos de tomate de árbol (Solanum betaceum Cav.).

Abstract

The present investigation aimed to determine the development of tree tomato in the orange giant and purple giant cultivars. The experiment was carried out in two locations in Valle Hermoso, Pelileo. A completely randomized design with three replications was used. Ten plants per cultivar were selected for pollination. The variables to be evaluated were polar diameter, equatorial diameter, weight, external and internal firmness, fruit color, flesh color and soluble solids. The data were recorded every 10 days with a total of 15 recordings. In addition, the water footprint was calculated with a rain gauge and the irrigation volume was determined by gauging the flow rate. The statistical analysis was carried out with the Infostat program, performing the analysis of variance and the Tukey test (5%) to determine differences among averages. In addition, growth curves were elaborated comparing the two cultivars. The results at 170 days after pollination (DAP) showed that the giant purple cultivar obtained higher values than the giant orange cultivar in equatorial diameter 67.74 and 60.73 mm respectively. Fruit weight 147.50 and 118.83 g respectively, firmness there were no statistical differences between the two cultivars, soluble solids reached values of 11.0 oBrix for orange giant and 11.10 oBrix for purple giant. In conclusion, it was observed that seeds differentiated from the mucilage at 60 days, the characteristic color of the mucilage of each cultivar started at 80 DAP in the purple giant and at 90 DAP in the orange giant, the tree tomato crop had a water footprint of 70.7 l/kg. It is recommended to carry out this investigation in different locations with a study of phytochemical components.