Agronomic performance of native Mexican tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) populations, grown under two growing systems

The environmental diversity of Mexico has allowed the development of different native and cultivated forms of tomato. This work was carried out with the objective of evaluating the agronomic quality of 23 Mexican native tomato populations and two commercial hybrids as control, established under greenhouse and open field conditions. This research was established at the Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, Texcoco, State of Mexico, from February to June 2018. The native tomato populations were obtained from central and southern Mexico; agronomic variables and fruit quality were evaluated. The results show that the tomato populations were more affected by the population factor, in the variables: number of fruits, polar and equatorial diameter, and number of locules; the environment produced the greatest effect on plant height, number of leaves, fruit weight, yield and pericarp thickness. It should be noted that under protected and open field conditions the native G3 genotype generated the highest fruit yield, with 4.4 kg/plant in the greenhouse and 2.8 kg/plant in the field. The average fruit yield in the greenhouse was 131 % higher compared to that in the open field. In conclusion, it was possible to observe that the genotype Guerrero 3 evaluated in protected conditions presented a higher fruit yield with respect to the control. In the greenhouse, its weight and fruit yield increased by 200 and 130 %, respectively, compared to the field. These results show that some native materials could be exploited in a better way under a greenhouse and others in the open field.