EFFECT OF TEMPORARY CALCIUM STRESS ON THE CALCIUM STATUS OF TOMATO FRUIT AND LEAVES

Tomatoes were grown in recirculating solutions containing 175 mg Ca e^-1 and adequate levels of other essential nutrients.
Calcium stress was applied by draining the system, flushing the root mat with deionised water and then growing the plants for 7 days in deionised water to which all nutrients except calcium were added.

The stress reduced the total calcium content of young fruit (14 days after anthesis) by an average of 26% (P < 0.01) and the concentration of calcium in the dry matter by 29% (P < 0.001). The stress always reduced the calcium content of more mature fruit (P < 0.05), even when applied during ripening (55–62 days after anthesis). The average reduction during the first 35 days after anthesis was 35% as compared with 6% thereafter.
The total calcium content and the concentration of calcium in the dry matter of the fifth leaf below the top of the plants were also reduced by the stress (P < 0.001). The incidence of blossom-end rot, which occurred only on trusses 2–4, decreased as the age of the fruit under stress increased from 7 to 21 days.

Symposium on Nutrition, Growing Techniques and Plant Substrates

A.M. El-Gizawy, P. Adams

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1986.178.3