Abstract

MEJIA-BETANCOURT, Francisca de los Ángeles; SANCHEZ DEL CASTILLO, Felipe; MORENO-PEREZ, Esaú del Carmen  and  GONZALEZ-MOLINA, Lucila. Rooted cuttings, an alternative for tomato production under greenhouse in short cycles. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2023, vol.14, n.3, pp.389-399.  Epub June 19, 2023. ISSN 2007-0934.  https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v14i3.3038.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under greenhouse conditions, managed in high population densities and short cycles, allows obtaining yields of up to 500 t ha-1 year-1; however, with this form of management, high quantities of seedlings that come from hybrid seed, which is very expensive, are occupied. An alternative that is perceived as economically more viable is the obtaining of seedlings from rooted cuttings, so the objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and yield of tomato plants from cuttings and seeds. Six ages of transplantation of cuttings [20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 days after the start of rooting (dasr)] and one age of seed [45 days after sowing (das)], as a control, were tested. An experimental design of randomized complete blocks with four repetitions and ten seedlings per experimental unit was used. Analysis of variance and comparison of means (Tukey, p≤ 0.05) were performed. Seedlings from cuttings transplanted earlier had higher vegetative growth than those from seed, but in yield there were no differences. With plants from cuttings, the average yield was 14.5 kg m-2 and it can be obtained in a period of 90 days from transplantation to the end of harvest, which makes it possible to obtain four cultivation cycles per year. It is concluded that seedlings obtained from rooted cuttings constitute a viable option for the management of the crop in high population densities.

Keywords : Solanum lycopersicum L.; botanical seed; rooted cuttings.

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