Articles
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT DAY / NIGHT CONDUCTIVITIES ON BLOSSOM-END ROT, QUALITY AND PRODUCTION OF GREENHOUSE TOMATOES
Article number
481_58
Pages
495 – 502
Language
Abstract
Following recent work by Van Ieperen (1996, J.Hort.Sc. 71:99-111), an experiment was done on two cultivars of greenhouse grown tomatoes to investigate effects of salinity (electric conductivity, EC) of the nutrient solution during the day and the night on blossom-end rot (BER), fruit quality and production.
In a summer/autumn tomato crop, four day/night EC combinations were compared: L/L, L/H, H/L and H/H, with H being 8 and L being 2 mS cm-1. High EC tended to increase the fruit quality parameters including fruit dry matter content, sugar content, acidity and shelf life.
But high EC, mainly at day and to a smaller extent at night, also increased the incidence of BER and tended to reduce fruit calcium content; reduced the average fruit weight, thus reducing total fruit production; and reduced plant weight and leaf area.
There were interactions: high night-time EC reduced the production mainly when day-time EC was high too.
It is concluded that treatment L/H showed some potential for improving tomato fruit quality with minimum loss of production.
In a summer/autumn tomato crop, four day/night EC combinations were compared: L/L, L/H, H/L and H/H, with H being 8 and L being 2 mS cm-1. High EC tended to increase the fruit quality parameters including fruit dry matter content, sugar content, acidity and shelf life.
But high EC, mainly at day and to a smaller extent at night, also increased the incidence of BER and tended to reduce fruit calcium content; reduced the average fruit weight, thus reducing total fruit production; and reduced plant weight and leaf area.
There were interactions: high night-time EC reduced the production mainly when day-time EC was high too.
It is concluded that treatment L/H showed some potential for improving tomato fruit quality with minimum loss of production.
Authors
E. Nederhoff
Keywords
hydroponics, EC, BER, calcium, salinity, shelf-life
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