Performance and selection of tomato cultivars for organic cultivation in greenhouse

ABSTRACT Production of tomato fruits in organic systems has difficulties such as the use of adequate cultivars. The hypothesis is that organic cultivation has strength dependency of the selection of appropriate genotypes to increase the economic viability of fruit production. The present work aimed to test and obtain, under organic greenhouse system, cultivars of tomato with good fruit productivity. Tomato cultivars, hybrids and non-hybrids, were evaluated with indetermined (tutoring and stripping) and determined growth habit (free growth). In the first cultivation, we observed symptoms of nutritional deficiency in fruiting stage of tomato plants, resulting in very low productivity of fruits, with maximum of 1.8 kg/plant for the Serato hybrid. In the second year of cultivation, the additions and increases in fertilizing management increased the fruit productivity in all cultivars - in Serato, to 3.1 kg/plant, and in Predador, to 2.8 kg/plant. The hybrid Candieiro, with determined habit growth, resulted in 2.0 kg/plant of fruits. The use of hybrids with genetic resistance to some important pests and diseases, associated with increases and adequate fertilizing management, were primordial factors to increase fruit productivity in tomato under organic systems in greenhouse.