Tomatoes are the leading value commercial vegetable crop in Louisiana with a farm value of $19.6 million. Tomatoes have one of the highest returns to the grower of all the vegetable crops. This is due to the high number of fruit produced by each plant and a 3- to 4-week harvest period for each planting. The majority of the Louisiana tomato crop is sold by direct sales at roadside stands and farmers’ markets. The rest of the crop is sold on the wholesale market.
Tomatoes are an absolute necessity in direct marketing sales. People will go to a market to purchase tomatoes and while they are at the market will buy other items. Many grower estimate that tomatoes are responsible for 60-80% of their sales at direct-sales markets.
Louisiana’s growers are looking for tomato varieties that produce good yields of large and extra-large, firm, smooth-shaped fruit with a good even red color, that does not crack and tastes good.
This test involved 12 tomato spotted wilt virus-resistant varieties, two tomato yellow leaf curl virus-resistant varieties and one bacterial wilt-resistant variety.
The different varieties were planted at several locations across the state. Farmers cooperating in this test were Matt Ranatza in Belle Chasse, La. Timmy Perrilloux in Montz, La., Brant Robin in Lawtell, La., Robby Poole in Cheneyville, La., Mac Albritton in Pioneer, La. and Ed Lester in Coushatta, La. All these plantings were made in March. A late planting was made in late April at the Hammond Research Station to test the varieties during times of high temperatures and frequent rainfall.
The tomatoes were allowed to remain on the vine until color was showing on the second cluster. This provided fully vine-ripened tomatoes on the first cluster and breaker tomatoes on the second cluster for evaluation. Several of the plantings were evaluated a second time 7 to 10 days after the first time. The tomatoes were evaluated for maturity, yield, fruit size, fruit color, fruit cracking, fruit shape, fruit firmness, plant size, foliage, taste and interior color. The fruits at the Hammond Research Station plots were rated for rain checking. The results of the evaluation are presented in Table 1 in the attached file.
The top variety in the test was Crista. It is a mid-season tomato with very good yields of large size fruit on a large plant with good foliage. Fruit color, shape and firmness are good. Its main attribute was large-sized fruit with a good plus taste. The interior flesh of the fruit was rated good. The main drawbacks of Crista are a few cracked fruit and a little more rain checks that the other varieties.
Four varieties, Amelia, Bella Rosa, RedLine and TUN 03004974, were tied for second. Amelia is a mid-season tomato which produced very good yields of firm, smooth-shaped, large-size fruit with good color. It had a large-size plant with good foliage. The fruit had a good red interior color and good taste. The main drawback of Amelia is that it had a few cracked fruit.
Bella Rosa is a mid-season tomato. It produced very good yields of large-size fruit. The fruit had good shape, color and firmness with very few cracked fruit. The flesh of the fruit had a good red color and was rated a good plus taste. The main attribute of Bella Rosa were large-size fruit with a good plus taste.
Redline is a mid-season tomato that produced very good yields of large-size fruit with good color and firmness. The fruit had a very good shape (round and smooth) with very few cracks. The flesh of the fruit was a good color with a good taste.
TUN 03004974 is a number seedling selection from Rogers/Syngenta Seed Company. It has a mid-season maturity. It produced large-size fruit with no cracks. The fruit had a good shape, color and firmness. The interior of the fruit was rated well with a good taste.
Two varieties resistant to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus were included in this test. BHN 745 is a mid-season tomato that makes good yields of large-size fruit with good firmness, shape and color. It had very few cracked fruit. The interior color was good and the fruit was rated with a good taste. Tygress is a mid-season tomato variety that produced large- and medium-size fruit with good shape, firmness and color. It had no cracked fruit.
BHN 669 is a Bacterial Wilt-resistant variety. It is a mid-season variety which produces large- and medium-size fruit with good shape and color. The fruit had only fair firmness but very few cracks. It had a few more rain checks than the other varieties. BHN 669 was rated with a good taste and good interior color.
Growers are encouraged to try these varieties on a small scale to determine how they perform under their own growing conditions before making large plantings.