nosing \SHafthovdi/ eaene sae SEE CTE CET: 
Sewice Seed Company, Que. 
MEMBERS: 
AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSN. 
SOUTHERN SEEDSMENS ASSN. 
MISSISSIPPI SEEDSMENS ASSN. 
te Stee eet OUuNNE FS Si 
Ceypstal Springs, Miss. 
Copied from Mississippi State Experiment Station Information 
Sheet 474 
Kopiah, A New Tomato Variety Developed In Mississippi 
By JOHN A. CAMPBELL and DOUGLAS C. BAIN 
Kopiah, a new high-yielding tomato 
variety adapted to both the mature-green 
market and canning, has been developed 
at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment 
Station at Crystal Springs. In five years 
of testing the new variety out-yielded 
Rutgers by an annual average of 36.4 
field boxes per acre. 
Seed was released January 1951 to seed 
companies for increase purposes and is 
offered by dealers to growers in limited 
quantities for the 1953 season. 
Characteristics 
Kopiah produces a stocky, indetermin- 
ate plant which exhibits more vigor than 
Rutgers. Under Mississippi conditions its 
foliage is a shade darker green and some- 
what more dense giving better fruit cov- 
erage than Rutgers. The fruit are globe 
in shape having a shape index of .86, 
(shape index equals depth divided by 
breadth), and the average size is equal to 
Rutgers. The clusters are borne fairly close 
together on the plant and usually have 
from six to eight fruit each. In Mississip- 
pi Kopiah is three days earlier than Rut- 
gers. 
Compared with Rutgers the fruit are 
smoother with thicker outer and _ radial 
walls. At the mature-green stage the fruit 
have a shade darker green color which 
changes to a uniform dark red color upon 
ripening. This characteristic seems desir- 
able among buyers in the Crystal Springs- 
Hazlehurst areas. According to reports 
from various States and comparisons 
made at the Truck Crops Branch Station 
in Mississippi, Kopiah develops a darker 
red color which is particularly desirable 
for canning. It has a much smaller stem 
scar which adds to its smoothness and 
general appearance. Commercial trial re- 
Large clusters of Kopiah tomatoes close togeth- 
er on plant at Truck Crops Branch Experiment 
Station. 
the very few commercial varieties that 
has true resistance to the disease. The fac- 
tor for this resistance was obtained from 
the wild red-currant tomato (L. pimpin- 
elifolium) in the original cross and was 
established in Kopiah by repeated selec- 
tions of disease-free plants from inoculat- 
ed seedlings. 
Yield 
Kopiah has consistently outyielded Rut- 
gers in tests conducted over a period of 
five years at Crystal Springs. Results of 
these trials are shown in Table 1. The 
increased yields varied from 10 to 73 
field boxes per acre more than Rutgers 
with an average increase of 36.4 
field boxes per acre for the five years. In 
these trials plants were pruned to two 
stems, staked and spaced two feet apart 
on rows 34% feet wide. Commercial 
growers in the Crystal Springs area have 
indicated the same trend of increased 
yield. 
Observational and_ replicated trials 
throughout the South and by seedsmen in 
the middle western and northern States 
have indicated that Kopiah has a wide 
range of adaptability. 
Canning Quality 
Large scale canning tests were run in 
1948 and 1949 comparing Kopiah with 
Rutgers when processed into catsup by a 
large commercial canning company. 
These tests indicated that Kopiah was 
equally as good if not slightly better than 
Rutgers as a processing tomato. Quality 
control determinations for the tests men- 
tioned above are shown in Table II. In 
both tests Kopiah exceeded Rutgers in 
percent total solids. 
Table I—Replicated yield tests for five years comparing Kopiah with Rutgers 
Yield—Field boxes* of U. S. No. 1 and No. 2 Grades 
green-wrap fruit per acre 
| | | Five-year 
Variety | 1947 1948 1949 1951 1952 average 
Kopiahiispeeeress Se te re 183.6 202.7 126.0 Eee 188.2 179.9 
Rutgers eee eee ee 156.5 129.0 116.0 159.0 157.3 143.5 
ID Wetjgses 22 oo fe Whi 10.6; 404 30.9 | 36.4 
*A field box of green-wrap tomatoes weighs approximately 70 pounds. 
Table Il—Quality contro] tests on red ripe fruit of Kopiah and Rutgers—1948 and 1949. 
ports indicate that the fruit are firmer 
than Rutgers and that they hold up bet- ee get EY : 
ter during shipment. _— ae hopae Rulger 
Determinations 1948 | 1949 | 1948 | 1949 
Resistance to Fusarium Wilt Specie pray itvere at eee kd ee 1.0298 Ss 1.0265 ieee 
’ ‘ti di an : CithicGMeac iC DCCC tn tae meena oe ee (38 0.28 0.40 0.26 
Fusarium wilt is a disease o prime 1m- — Insol. solids, DCE CED tage eee re ce eee 1.03 1.01 1.025 0.99 
portance and can be controlled only by Sol. solids, percent ee. ---eeeeeeee ete ee ees 6.14 5.5] 5.315 5.33 
use of resistant varieties. Kopiah is one of Total solids, percent ———-_______ 7.17 6.52 6.34 6.32 
