DINÂMICA REPRODUTIVA DE Helicotylenchus dihystera E SUAS IMPLICAÇÕES NA PRODUTIVIDADE DO TOMATE PARA PROCESSAMENTO INDUSTRIAL

Abstract

Tomato for industrial processing is an economically important crop in Brazil. Tomato plants are subject to attack by several microorganisms, including nematodes. During the 2022 harvest, a high population of Helicotylenchus dihystera was observed in soil and root samples collected in areas of tomato for industrial processing in Goiás. Considering the scenario of limited information about parasitism of H. dihystera in tomato crops for industrial processing, this work aims to study the influence of H. dihystera on tomato crops for industrial processing. A total of 200 adult H. dihystera nematodes were inoculated and its reproduction was analyzed in 5 commercial industrial tomato hybrids: CVR-2909, HMX-7885, N901, H-1421, and CVR-8161. The experiment was carried out in pots and conducted in a greenhouse. In a second phase of the study, the effect of H. dihystera on productivity, number of fruits per plant, plant height and fresh root mass was evaluated using two tomato hybrids, the one with the highest reproduction factor with 22.02 times the initial population (N901) and the other one with the lowest reproduction factor with 14.39 times the initial population (CVR-8161) observed in the first experiment. Three concentrations, “zero”, 1000 and 2000 nematodes per plant were used. The average productivity of the plants with these inoculum concentrations was 887.5 g in the control, 788.5 g for a concentration of 1000 nematodes and 749.5 g for a concentration of 2000 inoculated nematodes. Based on the results, it was observed that H. dihystera can multiply in some of the main tomato hybrids for processing, as well as can reduce their productive potential.