ABSTRACT
Tomato early blight is one of the most important diseases of this crop. The aim of this study was to characterize 49 tomato sub-samples of the Vegetable Germoplasm Bank of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (BGH-UFV) for early blight. The assay was carried out in Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, between December 2007 and April 2008. The experimental design consisted of a randomized block with three replications and the controls Débora, Fanny, Santa Clara and Ipa-6. There were 5 evaluationsbased on the disease severity. With the severity values, the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) was calculated, enabling a better visualization of the results. Variance analysis was performed, followed by the grouping of the AUDPC averages by the Scott-Knott test at the 5% significance level. The sub-samples BGH-2109, BGH-2110, BGH-2115, BGH-2122, BGH-2134, BGH-2135 and BGH-2142 had a lower AUDPC average in relation to the controls, and could be used in future breeding programs.
KEY WORDS
Alternaria solani
;
Solanum lycopersicum
; genetic resources