Respuestas al déficit hídrico en las variedades de tomate Río Grande y PERA QUIBOR 1

plants of tomato, lycopersicon esculentum (l.), pera quibor (pq) and rio grande (rg) varieties, grown in greenhouse conditions, were subjected to water deficit. the following analysis and measurements were carried out: soil (yws) and leaf (ywf) water potentials, stomatal conductance (gs), leaves and floral buds number, leaf dry weight, leaf area, and prolina content. during the water deficit period, the yws, ywf and gs decreased, there was a reduction of the number of leaves and floral buds number, and there was a delay in the floral buds apparition. the leaf dry weight and foliar area were likewise reduced, and the proline content was increased. a high correlation coefficient between ywf and proline content was found, the pearson correlation coefficients were significantly different to 0 (a = 0.05) for both varieties, being higher for pq. although a similar behavior was observed in both varieties under water deficit (similar trends of yws and gs) there were some differences: ywf values were lower in rg than pq (pq kept the same values during the first seven days of water deficit period); the leaves number is slightly higher in pq, because it maintain leaves production even at severe water stress. the leaf area was less reduced in pq, which means probably a higher and longer photosynthetic performance at severe water deficit. the leaf dry weight was less reduced in rg. the flower buds number were lower in rg variety. the pq variety, empirically obtained by our farmers at the quibor valley, shows an appropriated, similar, or even better performance, to water deficit, that the rg variety.