Breeding Cultivars of Cherry Tomato for Organic Farming Using Geostatistical Tools.

Breeding cultivars of cherry tomato for organic farming using geostatistical tools

Amir Mor-Mussery^1,2, Arie Budovsky³ and Ben Asher Jiftah²

 

¹ The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, Rehovot(Hebrew University)

² Katif Center for Coastal Deserts R&D Sdot Negev

³ Judea Regional Research and Development Center, Carmel, Israel.

The conventional breeding practices are based upon growing different cultivars of cherry tomato in research fields with similar characteristics (soil, water, climate, etc.) that are managed by the same practices (irrigation, fertilization etc.). Thus, the selected types are well suited only to fields with similar characteristics and that are treated similarly to their breeding ancestors. In contrast, in case of the organic processed fields, characterized by high heterogeneous properties (such as EC, pH and nutrients’ concentrations), the above mentioned cultivars may suffer from growth and yield inconsistencies. Here we demonstrate new methodology for adjusting crop cultivation to the organic farming. The study was conducted between 2001 and 2002 on cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicumvar. cerasiforme) organic greenhouse located in Netzer Hazany village at 2001 and 2002, Northern Negev, Israel. For the analysis we planted seedlings belongings to five cherry tomato cultivars. The growth and yields of these cultivars were spatially correlated to the concentrations of soluble Nitrate range at their respective growth plots. Using this methodology we found that type '495' from Zerraim Gadera ® succeeds to keep its growth and yield values even in plots with high varying concentrations of soluble Nitrate. We are confident that using the principles of the described breeding methodology will encourage farmers to grow organic crops for our own health benefits and the sustainability of the environment.