A study of cumulative tomato yield for fresh market: Characterization and classification of different cultivars

The time-course of the cumulative yield of tomato fruits with reference to 23 commercial cultivars has been studied in a three-year trial in the south of Italy. The general pattern of fruits cumulative yield over time was suitably interpreted by an empirical function; its coefficients and other derived parameters allow to gain useful information on the cultivars' productive behaviour and constitute a comprehensive data set in order to obtain a survey of the available tomato cultivars for fresh market. All these parameters have a simple and clear mathematical formulation. In order to perform a classification of the numerous cultivars involved in the analysis a "fuzzy" clustering procedure was set up. A factorial analysis, furthermore, allowed a simplification of the data set, reducing its underlying "dimensions".