UTILIZAÇÃO DO FITORREGULADOR GIBERELINA NA CULTURA DO TOMATE PARA PROCESSAMENTO INDUSTRIAL

Abstract

Tomato cultivation is one of the most cultivated and known vegetables worldwide, either by commercialization in the in natura form or as raw material for the tomato industrial processing. The industrial tomato must meet specific criteria to ensure a better yield in the industry, one of the main being the uniformity of fruit ripening. The objective of the present study was to evaluate how industrial tomato plants behave when submitted to gibberellin phytoregulator applications. The experiment was carried out on the property of the Agropecuária Irmãos Chiari group, where in the first test the hybrid HMX 7885 was used and in the second test the Heinz 9553. The phytorregulator applications were carried out in the doses of 0 - 2,5 - 5 - 10 and 20 grams of gibberellin per hectare, performed at different times at 52 and 59 days after transplanting. A randomized complete block design was used in subdivided plots with four replicates and 10 treatments, totaling 40 experimental plots. Applications were made through the pressurized CO2 pump, using a volume of 200L ha-1, at a pressure of 3 bar and fan-type nozzle. Harvesting was performed when the plants reached the maximum fruit maturity. The evaluations performed after the harvest were: ripe percentage, discolored, green and rotten fruits; fruits total mass; fruits per plant number; bunches per plant number; fruit length and diameter; productivity; firmness; density; °Brix; pH and titratable acidity. It was concluded that the gibberellin phytoregulator reduced the discolored fruits percentage for both replications, also promoting changes in fruit length and acidity.