Germplasm Evaluation of Tomatillo (Physalis Ixocarpa Brot.) Cropped Under Ontario, Canada and Chapingo, Mexico Environmental Conditions

Evaluation of five tomatillo Mexican landraces including altogether 13 accessions was performed under environmental conditions of Ontario, Canada and Chapingo in central Mexico. The measured traits were: beginning of flowering and harvest, total number of harvested fruits and the yield. Number of days to flowering or fruiting was counted from the date of planting. In both localities accessions 1 and 3 of the Rendidora landrace as well as the accession 1 of the Manzano landrace were the earliest and the highest yielding. In Chapingo the accession 1 of the Rendidora landrace gave the yield of fruits almost 4 kg.m^-2, in Elora, Canada the same accession was also the best and yielded almost 3 kg.m^-2. In general, all accessions were earlier in Elora than in Chapingo; yield in both localities was in general similar except the landrace Milpero obviously poorly suited to Canadian environment. Tomatillo may be considered as a promising new crop for Ontario, Canada agriculture. Yield was correlated negatively, in a significant way, with the number of days to flowering and harvest, it means that the development of early, highly productive varieties by artificial selection is feasible.