New insights on the influence of the quality of tomato seedlings on production of fruits cultivated in substracts

Abstract

This study evaluated the relationships between the biometric characters of tomato seedlings with the production characters obtained at the end of the crop cycle, to determine how the quality of seedlings interferes with tomato productivity. An experiment was carried out in two growing seasons, in a completely randomized design, with four replications and the experimental unit consisting of five plants. The treatments consisted of seedlings with different ages, differentiated by the days after sowing (DAS): (15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 DAS). After each evaluation of the seedlings, they were transplanted to the definitive production site, being evaluated until the end of the cycle. Biometric characters of seedlings and characters of fruit production were evaluated. Pearson correlation analysis and principal components (PCA) were performed to determine the relationships between the characters, path analysis to determine the direct and indirect effects, and analysis of canonical correlations between the groups of characters. In all analyses performed, weak correlation between the biometric characters of the seedlings (which evaluate the quality) with the characters of tomato fruit production in substrate cultivation was identified.