Produção de frutos, produção e qualidade de sementes de tomateiro ‘micro-tom’ transformado para expressão do gene mt shsp23.6 mitocondrial em condições de alagamento

The flooding of hydromorphic soils results in significant losses of crop productivity every year, especially in tomato. It is believed that the expression of heats hock proteins, especially sHSPs, play an important role in tolerance to multiple environmental stresses, and may alleviate the damages resulting from the low concentration of oxygen from flooding. Therefore, the presented study aimed to verify the intensity of the high expression of MT sHSP23.6 in the fruits and seeds production of tomato cv Micro-Tom cultivated under flood conditions, as well as in the quality of the seeds produced. Plants of three varieties of tomatoes Micro-Tom were cultivated and submitted to normal irrigation and 72 hours of flooding. The fruits were collected at physiological maturity, and the seeds were extracted manually separating the seeds from the pulp. The following analyzes were performed: Fruit number and yield, seed number and yield, first germination count, germination and tetrazolium test. It is concluded that the high expression of the MT sHSP23.6 mitochondrial gene in tomato cv Micro-Tom increases the production of fruit sand seeds per plant, and assists in the maintenance of fruit and seed production, viability and vigor of the seeds produced under flood stress conditions.