Abstract

Jesus B. Estrada-Castellanos , Jose C. Carrillo-Rodriguez , Martha JerezSalas , Jose L. Chavez-Servia * and Catarino Perales-Segovia

In order to describe the crop management of the kidney-type tomato landrace in four communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, and determine the productive potential of four accessions (seed lots) under three management systems, 25% of the tomato producers in the communities of Santa Cruz Xitla, La Soledad, Santa Ines del Monte and Santa Maria Vigallo were interviewed, and a factorial experiment on crop management practices was established under a randomized block design with three replications. Results of the interviews revealed that, the kidney-type tomato landrace is produced under a system that combines traditional technology, sowing or transplanting in ‘cajetes’ (a hole or pit in which to place the seed or seedling), and introduced technologies such as drip irrigation, use of Agribon row cover, plastic mulch and chemical control of pests and diseases. In the statistical analysis of the factorial experiment, significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were found among the accessions for all yield characteristics evaluated. The seed lot from Ejutla, Oaxaca generated the highest average fruit weight and equatorial and distal fruit diameter. The seed lots from Ejutla and Zimatlán interacted favorably with the traditional management and biospace systems in relation to higher expressions in fruit weight and distal and equatorial diameter.