41 /
ATKINSON
RECEIVED
2ANI 7' 1 9~;7
UNERS' OF 
I
UARY
A NEW ROOTKNOT
AND
WILT RESISTANT
4i1
TOMATO VARIETY
Leaflet 73 November 1966
Agricultural Experiment Station
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
E V Smith Auburn
Director Alabama
ATKINSON A New Rootknot
and Wilt Resistant Tomato Variety
W. H. GREENLEAF, Department of Horticulture
INTRODUCTION
Atkinson, a new rootknot nematode
and Fusarium wilt resistant tomato, prob-
ably the first of the Rutgers class to be
released to the public, has been devel-
oped in the Department of Horticulture
of Auburn University. The new variety is
named in honor of George F. Atkinson
who first described the life cycle of the
rootknot nematode at Alabama Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College in 1889.
BREEDING METHOD
The basic concept in the breeding of
Atkinson was that a high quality tomato
of the Rutgers type, resistant to rootknot,
Fusarium wilt and certain leaf diseases
was needed for the fresh market, for the
green wrap trade, and for home garden-
ers.
Both old established varieties and
breeders' lines of the Rutgers type were
selected from the Southern Tomato Ex-
change Program trials at Auburn for
crossing to develop Atkinson. The STEP
program is a cooperative tomato testing
and exchange program among the agri-
cultural experiment stations of the South-
east, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, coordi-
nated by the United State Department of
Agriculture Vegetable Breeding Labora-
tory, Charleston, South Carolina.
DESCRIPTION
The Atkinson variety, formerly AU22,
has a vigorous indeterminate vine with
heavy stems and foliage of average den-
sity.
The fruit is larger than that of most
varieties, weighing up to 1.1 pounds,
averaging three-tenths to five-tenths
pound. The shape is deep oblate, the
flesh firm and meaty and the core small.
The immature color is green with a yel-
low cast, the shoulder is a darker green
but colors evenly on ripening. The in-
ternal color is better than that of Home-
stead 24 with little or no light colored
COMPARISON OF SEVEN FRUIT QUALITY FACTORS OF ATKINSON AND OF HOESTEAD 24'
Variety
Homestead 24
Atkinson
Total Soluble
solids solids
%
6.8
7.4
%
5.9
6.2
pH
4.3
4.6
Total
acidity
(citric)
%
.56
.51
Ascorbic
acid Flavor
mg/100g
mg.
22.5
21.0
Color
7.2 7.6
8.0 8.3
1 Flavor and color were rated on 1 (poorest) to 10 (best) scale. Each figure is an average
of four ratings.
Data were furnished by Hubert Harris, Kenneth S. Rymal, and J. G. Kaffezakis, Depart-
ment of Horticulture, Auburn University.
PEDIGREE OF ATKINSON
Pearson S
X F4 (Ala. #1 x 15B-1)
X HES 4521
F5
X KOKOMO
X RUTGERS
X RUTGERS
I
X RUTGERS
X STEP 281
X STEP 281
1
X STEP 174
X STEP 174
X RUTGERS
X STEP 281
X STEP 281
f
f
X STEP 281
3
F7 = Atkinson
fibers around the seeds. The eating qual-
ity of Atkinson is very good. It tastes less
acid than Homestead 24.
Atkinson is several days earlier than
Rutgers and almost as early as Home-
stead 24. The yield is usually better than
that of Rutgers, approaching that of
Homestead 24 when unstaked, but prob-
ably superior when staked. Atkinson is
especially superior in heavily nematode
infested soil.
RESISTANCE
Atkinson is resistant to the southern
rootknot nematode Meloidogyne incog-
nita and to the cotton rootknot nematode
M. incognita race acrita. It is also resistant
to race 1 of Fusarium oxysporum f. ly-
copersici. The foliage of Atkinson is mod-
erately resistant to early blight caused by
Alternaria solani. It is probably also re-
sistant to gray leaf spot caused by Stem-
phylium solani and to Septoria leaf spot
caused by Septoria lycopersici on the
basis of field observations. Foliage reten-
tion of Atkinson in the field is better than
on either Homestead 24 or Rutgers.
WEAKNESSES
Atkinson is moderately susceptible to
fruit cracking and catfacing.
SUMMARY
Atkinson resembles the variety Marion.
It was reported among the best tomatoes
in the 1966 STEP observational trial at
Charleston (STEP 500). It also rated
high when grown for the fresh market
and for green wraps in the Dothan area
of Alabama in both the spring of 1965
and 1966.
AVAILABILITY OF SEED
Seed of Atkinson tomato is available
from the Corneli Seed Company, 101
Chouteau Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri
63102.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to ackriowledge par-
ticipants in the STEP testing program
for their assistance in the breeding of
Atkinson. STEP 174 was developed by
C. F. Andrus, Horticulturist, U.S. Vege-
table Breeding Laboratory, Charleston,
and STEP 281, by Dr. W. M. Epps,
formerly Plant Pathologist at the South
Carolina Experiment Station, Charleston,
now Department of Botany and Bacteri-
ology, Clemson University. HES 4521, a
Hawaii Experiment Station line, true
breeding resistant to rootknot nematodes,
was contributed by Dr. W. A. Frazier,
now Department of Horticulture, Oregon
State University, Corvallis. This line was
the product of successive cooperative ef-
forts to transfer the rootknot resistance
of the wild Peruvian tomato, Lycopersi-
con peruvianum P.I. 128657, to the cul-
tivated tomato, L. esculentum, by Dr.
P. G. Smith, Department of Vegetable
Crops, University of California, Davis,
by Dr. V. M. Watts, Department of Hor-
ticulture, University of Arkansas, Fayet-
teville, and by Dr. W. A. Frazier in what
is now known as the famous Smith-Watts-
Frazier triangle.
Alabama No. 1 and No. 15B-1 were
breeding lines of Dr. F. E. Johnstone,
formerly Department of Horticulture, Au-
burn University, now Department of
Horticulture, University of Georgia, Ath-
ens, and of C. F. Andrus, respectively.
The valuable assistance of C. C. Carl-
ton, Superintendent, Chilton Area Sub-
station, Clanton, Alabama, in conducting
tomato yield trials is also acknowledged.