Seedling Emergence Comparison of Several Romanian Tomato and Pepper Varieties

Abstract

Nowadays people are turning to sustainable/ecological agriculture. Romanian local varieties with valuable traits can be used to develop novel organic varieties. Nine Romanian tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and seven pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) varieties were compared during seedling emergence in growth chamber and greenhouse conditions. The aim of this study was to observe the variation of several emergence indicators among the varieties of the same species under the same growing conditions, differences that can be correlated with genotype variation in further genotyping research, with the final goal of using these results as a basis for genotype-assisted breeding programs. The present survey demonstrated significant differences in the emergence indicators among the varieties studied, both in the growth chamber and in the greenhouse growing conditions. Ștefănești 24 tomato variety stood out with the longest mean emergence time, mean emergence rate, synchrony and highest uncertainty of emergence, whereas Vladimir pepper variety had the lowest values for percentage of emergence, homogeneity and uncertainty of emergence.