Quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Due to Grafting in Solanaceae of Different Species

Abstract

The present work had as objective to evaluate the physical-chemical characteristics of commercial tomato fruits grafted on different solanaceous species. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, in a randomized complete block design, with four blocks and six treatments, being the rootstocks: cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum); two cultivars of eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum), Long Light Green and Big Hill; jurubebao (Solanum lycocarpum) and jurubeba juna (Solanum stramonifolium), grafted with the tomato cultivar Santa Cruz Kada, and the control treatment was represented by the self-grafted tomato. Three consecutive harvests were spaced seven days after the production stabilization, and the characteristics fruits analyzed were Total Soluble Solids (oBrix), pH, Titratable Acidity (percentage of citric acid) and TSS/TA. A statistically significant difference was found in the Tukey’s test at 5% probability in the titratable acidity, pH and fruit pulp flavor, among the evaluated treatments, while the soluble solids content did not differ between treatments in any of the harvests, but the values remained within the considered adequate for the tomato in natura in the current literature. There was a decrease in fruit flavor in all treatments, and fruit pH drop in all treatments with the exception of jurubebao, with the advancement of plant age, while the titratable acidity had an inverse behavior. The evaluated rootstocks can be used in the tomato crop, without prejudice to the quality of the tomato fruit produced.