Fruit quality and yield in five small-fruited greenhouse tomato cultivars under high fertilization regime

Research was initiated in Fall 2002 to identify greenhouse tomato cultivars and fertilization practices which would result in superior fruit quality under Southeastern United States winter/spring conditions. Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. '67', 'Diana', 'Elegance', 'Momotaro', and 'S630' were compared to the larger beefsteak cultivar 'Trust' under standard (ECapproximate to1.90 dSm(-1)) or high (ECapproximate to3.75 dSm(-1)) fertilizer concentration. Seeds were started in October 2002 and transplanted, 2 per pot, into Bato((R)) buckets containing perlite in November. Taste tests conducted on three dates revealed differences among cultivars, with '67', 'Elegance' and 'Momotaro' consistently scoring well and 'Trust' scoring lowest. No significant differences occurred between fertilization treatments during taste tests. All cultivar taste ratings increased from early to late spring harvests. Highest total fruit production occurred in 'Elegance' and 'Momotaro', but cracking reduced marketable yield in 'Momotaro'. Fruit yield was significantly lower for the high fertilizer concentration than the standard concentration for all months except the first. After each harvest, fruit were frozen for later determination of Brix, EC and pH. Significant differences in Brix were seen between the standard and high fertilizer concentration treatments, with the high concentration higher than the standard concentration at all harvest periods. Significant differences in Brix were seen among the cultivars, with '67' and 'Elegance' significantly higher than all other varieties and 'Momotaro' higher than the remaining cultivars including 'Trust', which ranked lowest. Cultivar differences in measured Brix and excellence ratings from taste tests were highly correlated; cultivar differences in fruit pH and EC were less consistent and did not appear closely related to taste panel evaluations.