scholarly journals Foliar Applications of Protein Hydrolysate, Plant and Seaweed Extracts Increase Yield but Differentially Modulate Fruit Quality of Greenhouse Tomato

HortScience ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1214-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Colla ◽  
Mariateresa Cardarelli ◽  
Paolo Bonini ◽  
Youssef Rouphael

The current research aimed 1) at evaluating the effects of three biostimulants (legume-derived protein hydrolysate, PH; plant and seaweed extract, PE and SWE) on yield performance and nutritional quality, mineral profiling, antioxidant activities, lycopene, total phenols and ascorbic acid of greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under soil culture and 2) to assess the economic profitability of biostimulant applications. Plants were sprayed four times during the growing cycle with a solution containing 1, 3, and 3 mL·L−1 of PE, SWE, and PH, respectively. Foliar applications of biostimulants improved the early and total marketable yield of fresh tomato. The increase of total yield by PE, SWE, and PH was 11.7%, 6.6% and 7.0%, respectively, in comparison with untreated plants. Legume-derived PH increased lycopene, total soluble solids, and K and Mg contents, thereby increasing the nutritional value of the fruits. The applications of SWE, and to a lesser degree PH, enhanced the Ca concentration in the fruit tissue. Our findings indicated that the three tested biostimulants, although they increased the total production cost, improved the nutrient status and yield performance of the crop to a level resulting in net economic benefits.

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto Brasiliano Campos ◽  
Pedro Dantas Fernandes ◽  
Hans Raj Gheyi ◽  
Flávio Favaro Blanco ◽  
Cira Belém Gonçalves ◽  
...  

Industrial tomato is the most important vegetable crop of the Brazilian agribusiness. Few researches have evaluated the tolerance of this crop to saline stress. In this study, the effects of five levels of salinity of the irrigation water (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 dS m-1) and two equivalent proportions of Na:Ca:Mg (1:1:0.5 and 7:1:0.5) were tested on yield and quality of fruits of industrial tomato, cultivar IPA 6. Seedlings were transplanted in rhizotrons and grown under plastic covering until fruit ripening. Volume of water for daily irrigations was determined by the difference between the applied and drained volume in the previous irrigation. Unitary increase of water salinity above 1 dS m-1 reduced the commercial and total yield by 11.9 and 11.0%, respectively, and increased the concentration of soluble solids and the titratable acidity of the fruits by 13.9 and 9.4%, respectively. The increase of the proportion of sodium reduced the total and marketable yield, the number of marketable fruits and pulp yield. Water of moderate salinity, with low concentration of sodium, can be used in the irrigation of the industrial tomato, without significant yield losses.


1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 947-949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios P. Papadopoulos ◽  
Chin S. Tan

Three spring and two fall crops of greenhouse tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. Mill; various cultivars) grown in "Harrow" peat bags were irrigated 1, 4, 8 or 16 times daily. All plants received the same volume of fertilizer solution which varied with time from 0.2 to 1.0 L plant−1 d−1 according to crop and environmental conditions. The results showed little or no effect of irrigation frequency on early or total yield, number of grade no. 1 fruit, or fruit size. Key words: Lycopersicon esculentum, marketable yield


Author(s):  
Hamid Salari ◽  
B.S. Hansra ◽  
Yashpal Singh Saharwat

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is among the most cultivated vegetable crops in the world. Afghanistan is thought to be the origin as several local and wild varieties are found in different parts of the country. Safid e Paisaye is a local variety grown in central parts of Afghanistan in the Ghorband valley. This variety has long storability and high market demand among restaurants in the region, but little research has been done to increase the quality and its availability to the market to increase its market share in Afghanistan. Conducted under supervision of Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India, at Agriculture Faculty Research Farm of Kabul University, this investigation looks at plough depth, land preparation methods, and planting date on quality and yield of onion bulb; it also studied other cultural practices including irrigation and fertilization dose and frequency. The parameters studied in this investigation include neck diameter (cm), bulb diameter (cm), neck to bulb ratio, bulb weight (gr), bulb volume (cm3), bulb density (gr/cm3), Total Soluble Solids (TSS) (Brix), firmness (Kg/cm2), marketable yield (MT/Ha), and total yield (MT/Ha). The data revealed that planting date has significant influence on bulb quality and yield of onion. The highest bulb diameter (6.95 cm), bulb weight (121 gr), bulb volume (128 cm3), marketable yield (32.54 MT/Ha), and total yield (34.24 MT/Ha) and the lowest neck to bulb ratio (0.04) were recorded for the first planting date (seed sown in nursery on 10 March - seedlings planted in field on 10 May). Land ...


HortScience ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (11) ◽  
pp. 1641-1645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin P.N. Gent ◽  
Michael R. Short

Recycling the nutrient solution used for greenhouse vegetable production can prevent groundwater pollution. Recycling could result in an accumulation or deficiency of elements that would be deleterious to plant growth, product quality, and the dietary value of vegetables. Complex fertilizer systems have been developed to maintain appropriate concentrations of all elements in recycled systems. We compared a much simpler system in which all excess solution drained from the plants was recycled without adjustment or dilution compared with a system with no recycling as a control. Crops of greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) were grown in two years to compare these systems. Differences in composition of solution drained from the plants developed gradually over more than one month. The transition from vegetative to fruit growth, which coincided with warmer weather, resulted in a decreased demand for nitrate, and other nutrients, and an increase in electrical conductivity (EC) of water drained from the root zone. The composition of the fresh solution supplied to the plants was adjusted accordingly. It took a longer time to re-establish an optimum composition for recycled compared with control watering. EC tended to increase in the recycled system. Recycling decreased total yield and fruit size, but marketable yield was unaffected. The marketable fraction increased in the recycled treatment, primarily as a result of fewer fruit with cracked skin. This effect was consistent across seven cultivars. The cultivars differed in this and other defects, but they did not differ in their response to the two watering systems.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 996-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina E. Fernandez ◽  
James R. Ballington

Yield performance of primocane-fruiting experimental blackberry (Rubus spp.) cultivars from two breeding programs were evaluated in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The trial consisted of the nine experimental cultivars: NC 533, NC 534, NC 535, NC 537, NC 538, NC 539, APF-27, APF-46, and Prime-Jim®. In addition, rowcovers were applied to split plots in the spring to determine if harvest dates could be advanced. In 2007, five experimental cultivars had comparable high total yields (APF-27, APF-46, NC 535, NC 537, and NC 539), yet only three of these had comparable marketable yields (APF 27, APF-46, and NC 537). In 2008, APF-27 and APF-46 had significantly higher total yield (2234.5 and 2257.3 g/plant, respectively) and marketable yield (1611.2 and 1654.2 g/plant, respectively) than all other experimental cultivars. Rowcover treatments did not increase or decrease either total or marketable yield in any of the experimental cultivars in either year. In addition, rowcovers did not advance the date of 5% or 50% harvest in either year. On the basis of the conditions imposed in these studies, we determined that “APF” selections evaluated in this trial have higher second-year yield than “NC” selections, primocane-fruiting experimental cultivar yields are lower than yields commonly found with floricane-fruiting blackberries, and rowcovers as applied in this study are not a viable option for advancing harvest season of primocane-fruiting blackberries in the southern Appalachian Mountains.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Caruso ◽  
Stefania De Pascale ◽  
Eugenio Cozzolino ◽  
Antonio Cuciniello ◽  
Vincenzo Cenvinzo ◽  
...  

Scientific investigations are being increasingly devoted to biostimulant effects on vegetable yield and quality, with the perspective of sustainable crop management. Two farming systems (conventional or organic) in factorial combination with two biostimulant treatments (tropical plant extract (PE); legume-derived protein hydrolysate (PH)) plus a non-treated control were compared in terms of tomato fruit yield, yield components, mineral composition, functional and nutritional indicators. PE- and PH-based biostimulants resulted in higher plant biomass, PH even in higher leaf area index, compared to non-treated control. Marketable yield was not significantly affected by farming system. PH and PE gave higher yield than non-treated control. PH treatment led to higher fruit number than the control, whereas PE incurred significant increase in yield only under organic farming. The mean fruit weight attained the highest value upon PE application under conventional management. Colour component a* (redness) was higher with the conventional system compared to the organic one, whereas an opposite trend was shown by the organic acids malate, oxalate and isocitrate. Irrespective of the farming system, the soluble solids, fruit brightness (L*) and redness as well as the target organic acids malate, oxalate, citrate and isocitrate were significantly higher than untreated plants by 10.1%, 16.1%, 19.8%, 18.9%, 12.1%, 13.5% and 26.8%, respectively, with no significant differences between the PH- and PE-based biostimulants. Higher lipophilic activity and total ascorbic acid concentration but lower lycopene were recorded under organic management. PE and PH application resulted in higher total phenol and ascorbic acid as well as in lycopene content, and lipophilic antioxidant activity than the non-treated control. Biostimulants proved to be an effective sustainable tool for enhancing tomato fruit yield and functional quality both under conventional and organic vegetable systems.


2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 131 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Bal ◽  
S. Altintas

Trichoderma harzianum was applied to seedling growing media (a peat and soil-based mixture or greenhouse soil) at the time of sowing, at transplanting to vials and at planting. The factorial experiment using 2 seedling growing media, 2 cultivars and 4 dosages of T. harzianum at 0 (control), 4 g/m2, 10 g/m2 and 24 g/m2 showed that the Trichoderma dosage had no significant effect on the yield or fruit quality. None of the 3 factor interactions between the criteria studied, that is, total yield, marketable yield, early yield, individual fruit weight, total soluble solids and titratable acidity, were significant except for fruit diameter. The 3 factor combination of Peat × Belleveu F1 × 10 g/m2 resulted in the highest total yield, marketable yield and early yield with 1552, 1373 and 681 g/plant, respectively. The interaction between media and cultivars was significant for all the yield characteristics studied. However, the main effect of T. harzianum on early yield was the highest at 4 g/m2, producing 527 g/plant in comparison to the control with 374 g/plant. It was, therefore, hypothesised that the positive effect of T. harzianum, observed in the early yield, may be extended to the whole growing period by further applications, that is, by periodical renewal of the T. harzianum population at the root zone.


Author(s):  
Laura L. Van Eerd ◽  
Yangxue Zhou ◽  
Amy L Turnbull ◽  
David Johnston-Monje ◽  
George Lazarovits ◽  
...  

Tomato vine decline (TVD) disease complex results in fruit yield loss, but what soil management strategies might mitigate it? In commercial fields with a history of TVD, five approaches (soil organic amendments and transplant treatments) were evaluated for their impact on fruit yield, fruit quality and microbial abundance or diversity at four site-years. One site-year had very high TVD pressure and high variability with no yield differences, thus efforts focused on the remaining site-years. Marketable yield was not different among treatments but numerically followed a trend similar to total yield. Amending soil with poultry manure delayed maturity (i.e., increased proportion of green fruit) and had the greatest total yield increases of 17.2%, congruent with decreased abundance of root pathogens (Verticillium dahliae, Rhizopicnis vagum). Microbial DNA fingerprinting data of rhizospheres, roots and/or stems suggested treatments did not significantly shift the total diversity fungal nor bacterial populations, but the aforementioned pathogen loads were reduced with the application of organic amendments relative to the untreated control. While drenching tomato transplants with pseudomonad culture increased their presence in roots, pathogen load was not reduced relative to the untreated control. Overall, these results show that soil organic amendments were able to improve tomato total yield in two of four site-years without reducing fruit quality (i.e., soluble solids, pH, colour), perhaps, in part, due to their ability to suppress specific root pathogens in commercial fields.


HortScience ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 759A-759
Author(s):  
Martin P.N. Gent*

Shading a greenhouse increased the fraction of tomatoes that were marketable, and the marketable yield, in a comparison of greenhouse tomato yields across years, in some of which the greenhouses were shaded. In 2003, the yield and quality of greenhouse tomatoes were compared directly when grown in spring and summer in Connecticut in identical greenhouses that differed only in the degree of shade. Each half of four greenhouses was either unshaded or shaded using reflective aluminized shade cloth rated to reduced light transmission by 15%, 30%, or 50%. Each shade treatment was repeated in two houses. Tomatoes were germinated in February and transplanted in March The houses were shaded when fruit began to ripen in early June. Picking continued through August. The effect of shade on total yield developed gradually. Yields in June were unaffected by shade, but in August yield under no shade was about 30% higher than under 50% shade. In contrast, there was an immediate effect of shade on fruit size. Fruit picked in June from plants under 50% shade was 16% smaller than from plants grown under no shade. This difference declined later in the season, to 6 and 9%, in July and August respectively. The highest yield of marketable fruit in 2003 was picked from houses under no shade, but this was only 10% more than picked from the houses under 50% shade. Shade increased the fraction of marketable fruit, from 54% under no shade to 63% under 50% shade. Certain defects were decreased by shade. For instance the fraction of fruit with cracked skin was decreased from 33% to 25%. In general, effects on fruit quality varied linearly with the degree of applied shade.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 747-751
Author(s):  
Naa Korkoi Ardayfio ◽  
Harlene Hatterman-Valenti

A juneberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) cultivar trial was conducted to evaluate fruit yield, quality, and other characteristics for juneberry cultivars and a native biotype. One-year old micropropagated material was transplanted and established in North Dakota in 2004. The native biotype is available as a conservation plant from Towner State Nursery (Towner, ND) and was included as a readily available juneberry for producers. Fruit diameter, soluble solids content, yield (total and marketable), and plant size measurements were taken during the 2010 and 2011 season. ‘Martin’, the native biotype, ‘Parkhill’, ‘Pembina’, ‘Regent’, and ‘Thiessen’ produced the highest total yield in 2010, whereas ‘Parkhill’ had the highest total yield in 2011, followed by ‘Thiessen’ and then ‘Martin’. Cultivars Martin, Parkhill, and Thiessen produced the highest marketable yield over the 2-year study. ‘Martin’ and ‘Thiessen’ fruit were larger and heavier than the rest of the cultivars. The largest plants were ‘Martin’, ‘Parkhill’, ‘Regent’, and ‘Thiessen’. Soluble solids concentrations were similar among all cultivars. Cultivars Martin or Thiessen should be recommended to commercial producers wanting a high yielding cultivar with uniform fruit ripening, whereas Parkhill should be recommended to producers with a you-pick operation wanting a high yielding cultivar with an extended fruit ripening period.


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