Cultivar Evaluation and Yield Performance of Tomato in an Organic Management System

Abstract

This paper presents evaluation of organic tomato cultivars on yield performance in local climatic conditions. Field research trials were conducted from April to October in 2015 and 2016 growing seasons at the Tennessee State University organic farm. Differences occurred in number of marketable fruit, fruit weight and total soluble solids. ‘Arbason F1’ (28.67 Mt·ha-1), ‘Gold Nugget’ (26.08 Mt·ha-1), ‘Roma’ (25.65 Mt·ha-1) were the high yielding and ‘Pink Bumblebee’ (2.61 Mt·ha-1), ‘Hillbilly’ (3.10 Mt·ha-1), ‘Cherokee Green’ (5.99 Mt·ha-1) had the lowest marketable yield. ‘Mountain Prince’ (57.68%), ‘Pink Brandywine’ (52.32%) and ‘Black Prince’ (44.74%) had the most culls and ‘Pink Bumblebee’ (1.80%), ‘Rutgers VF’ (4.98%), and ‘Hillbilly’ (5.02%) had the fewest cull fruit. ‘Bing Cheery’ and ‘Cheery Sweetie’ ranked highest in taste among cherry types. All twenty six cultivars did set fruits during the growing seasons in local climatic conditions. Results suggest that ‘German Johnson’ and ‘Pink Brandywine’ (beefsteak type), ‘Gold Nugget’, (cherry type), and ‘Roma’, (plum type) were top performers in higher yields and brix.