Genetics and Breeding of Tomatoes for Short-season Locations and Unique Cultural Interest

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is the world’s second most consumed vegetable by humans and one of the most popular home garden plants and field crops.  Most of the 7000 currently available tomato cultivars are adapted to high tropical and subtropical climates.  Only a very few cultivars are suitable for short season locations such as northern Minnesota and often result in low yields.  We have been breeding tomatoes for eight years to meet special horticultural needs, such as for northern gardens and farms with short growing seasons and for the special interests of various human cultural backgrounds. Three novel dwarf tomato varieties are being commercialized, each of these new varieties is dwarf, only need a very short growing season, and obtain high yields in greenhouses, home gardens, and large scale farm fields. We also select tomatoes with special fruit forms that are of interest to certain cultures. For example, we have developed a variety that forms very unique “8” shaped tomato fruits, which has great potential for consumers in the oriental countries, since “8” is a fortune number to many people in these countries. In China, the pronunciation of “8” is similar to “good fortune”.  From a genetic perspective, each of the four varieties we report develops structurally improved flowers that promote self-pollination.