Production of fresh tomato for seed variety Alba in the state of Barinas

Abstract

The tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, is the most important vegetable in Venezuela. The areas with the highest production in the country are located in the states: Aragua, Carabobo, Guárico, Lara, Monagas, Portuguesa and Zulia. In Venezuela, there is a high dependence on imported seed; Tomato genetic improvement in the world is developed mainly by foreign universities and transnational companies (Scott, 2008), which sell hybrid seeds that are priced in dollars or euros. Because of this, hybrid seed acquisition costs are considerably high for many growers.

Given this problem, public servants of the National Institute of Agricultural Research of the Lara State, through the Program for the Genetic Improvement of Vegetables of the National Seed Plan (PNS) of the INIA, in 2005, generated the tomato variety "Alba" for this form to contribute to the agri-food security and sovereignty of our agriculture and to place in the hands of our farmers, national certified quality seed. In 2012, the National Seed Service (SENASEM) accredited the “Alba” tomato variety as eligible for production and marketing in Venezuela. This work presents the results obtained by the Socialist Seed Production Unit of INIA (UPSS) of the program, implemented in seed production, from 2006 to 2013, with cooperating farmers in the state of Barinas.