Adaptation Evaluation and Quantitative and Qualitative Comparison of New Hybrid Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Genotypes in the Farms of Golestan Province

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular and widely consumed vegetable fruits all over the world. Given the vast area (about 2200 hectares) under cultivation of this crop in Golestan province (north of Iran) and the importance of replacing old open-pollinated cultivars with new high-yielding hybrid cultivars, a field study was carried out by evaluating the new determinate tomato hybrid genotypes suitable for outdoor cultivation named A-Z15 and A-Z16 along with Mahdis (control) hybrid cultivar. A-Z16 consisted of two treatments of without and with treating seeds with Probio 96 bacteria named A-Z16a and A-Z16-b, respectively. This study was carried out during 2022 in two agricultural research stations of Golestan, Gorgan and Gonbad Experiments carried out as complete block designs with three replications. Characteristics such as fruit yield/hectare, average weight of fruit, number of fruit carpel, percentage of fruit size (small, medium, large), diameter and length of fruit, number of fruit cavity, fruits/plant, pH of fruit juice, amount of total soluble solids, proportion of fruits with white layer and shelf life of fruit after harvest were recorded and measured. The results of analysis of variances showed significant differences in most of the examined traits in two experimental locations. Based on mean comparisons, cultivar Mahdis (control) was superior in fruit yield and fruits/plant, but this cultivar in qualitative characteristics such as shelf life of fruit, the lower proportion of fruits with white layer and total soluble solids was ranked last. The highest average weight of fruit and shelf life of fruit belonged to A-Z16-b. After Mahdis, A-Z16-b produced highest fruit yield. In conclusion, Mahdis (control) and in a lesser extent A-Z16-b (A-Z16-a treated with Probio 96 bacteria) showed better fruit yield attributes compared to others.