This study presents the minimum number and the best combination of tomato harvests needed to compare tomato accessions from germplasm banks. Number and weight of fruit in tomato plants are important as auxiliary traits in the evaluation of germplasm banks and should be studied simultaneously with other desirable characteristics such as pest and disease resistance, improved flavor and early production. Brazilian tomato breeding programs should consider not only the number of fruit but also fruit size because Brazilian consumers value fruit that are homogeneous, large and heavy. Our experiment was a randomized block design with three replicates of 32 tomato accessions from the Vegetable Germplasm Bank (Banco de Germoplasma de Hortaliças) at the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil plus two control cultivars (Debora Plus and Santa Clara). Nine harvests were evaluated for four production-related traits. The results indicate that six successive harvests are sufficient to compare tomato genotypes and germplasm bank accessions. Evaluation of genotypes according to the number of fruit requires analysis from the second to the seventh harvest. Evaluation of fruit weight by genotype requires analysis from the fourth to the ninth harvest. Evaluation of both number and weight of fruit require analysis from the second to the ninth harvest.
Lycopersicon esculentum; genetic resources; principal components; repeatability coefficient; determination coefficient
