The objective in this study was to evaluate the agronomic and economic efficiency of a new system of tomato growing named "Viçosa Tomato Growing System", by comparing it to the traditionally used systems. Two experiments were carried out with three replications in a randomized complete block design, from March to September 2011 and August 2011 to January 2012 in an experimental field in Viçosa, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The Viçosa Tomato Growing System consists of staking the plants on the inclination of approximately 75° to the soil in which the plants are inclined alternately from one side to the other, forming, when viewed from the front, a "V ", plants pruned to one stem, thinning leaving 4-6 fruits per truss, 8 trusses per plant, removal of the two 2 inflorescences after the 8th truss letting up 9 leaves above it and removal of lower leaves until the third truss. This system, in four planting densities (25,000, 16,667, 12,500 and 10,000 plants per hectare), was compared to four conventional systems (ribbon, bamboo 50, bamboo 60 and crossed fence). We evaluated the productivity of fruits of each class (marketable, large and medium) as well as the costs and profitability. The means were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey test at 5% of probability. No significant difference in total production per plant was observed; however, in the Viçosa Tomato Growing System, at the density of 25,000 plants/ha, the yield was higher than on the other systems. Furthermore, in this treatment an increase up to 222% was observed in the profitability, which makes this the most suitable system to the tomato growers.
Solanum lycopersicum; condução de plantas; viabilidade econômica.
Solanum lycopersicum; plant training; economic viability.
