scholarly journals Tomato Fruit Yields and Quality under Water Deficit and Salinity

1991 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.P. Mitchell ◽  
C. Shennan ◽  
S.R. Grattan ◽  
D.M. May

Effects of deficit irrigation and irrigation with saline drainage water on processing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, cv. UC82B) yields, fruit quality, and fruit tissue constituents were investigated in two field experiments. Deficit irrigation reduced fruit water accumulation and fresh fruit yield, but increased fruit soluble solids levels and' led to higher concentrations of hexoses, citric acid, and potassium. Irrigation with saline water had no effect on total fresh fruit yield or hexose concentration, but slightly reduced fruit water content, which contributed to increased inorganic ion concentrations. Fruit set and marketable soluble solids (marketable red fruit yield × percent soluble solids) were generally unaffected by either irrigation practice. Water deficit and salinity increased starch concentration during early fruit development, but, at maturity, concentrations were reduced to < 1%, regardless of treatment. Higher fruit acid concentrations resulted from water deficit irrigation and from irrigation with saline water relative to the control in one year out of two. These results support the contention that deficit irrigation and irrigation with saline drainage water may be feasible crop water management options for producing high quality field-grown processing tomatoes without major yield reductions. Appropriate long-term strategies are needed to deal with the potential hazards of periodic increases in soil salinity associated with use of saline drainage water for irrigation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1021-1033
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Loan ◽  
Tran Thi My Can

To study the effects of cover methods and nitrogen (N) levels on the growth and yield components of tomato Cv. Pear F1, field experiments with a 4x3 factorial design were conducted in the 2019 spring and winter seasons using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The cover methods included four treatments: bare soil (BS), black plastic mulch (BPM), transparent polypropylene row cover (RC), and a combination of BPM and RC (BPMRC) with the RC removed approximately 30 days after transplanting. Nitrogen (N) was applied at three levels (150, 180, and 210 kg N ha-1). Using BPM and RC generally led to an increased air temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, and soil temperature compared to the BS treatment. Higher N rates (180 and 210 kg N ha-1) did not result  in different tomato fruit sizes and fruit weights but positively increased fruit yield and quality (Brix values and fruit dry weight) as compared to the 150 kg N ha-1 addition. The cover methods positively affected the yield components and fruit yield of tomato as well as the fruit characteristics compared to the BS treatment. Using cover materials (BPM and RC) combined with a higher N application significantly increased the yield attributes and fruit yield. The highest fruit yield was achieved under the mulching treatment by black plastic (BPM treatment) combined with a 210 kg N ha-1 application, resulting in 50.90 tons ha-1 in the spring and 58.27 tons ha-1 in the winter.


1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Poysa

Advanced lines and backcrosses from interspecific hybridization of processing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) with six L. chmielewskii (Rick, Kesicki, Fobes and Holle) and L. cheesmanii (Riley) accessions were evaluated in the field over 2 yr for soluble solids content (SSC), total solids content (TSC), fruit yield and fruit size to determine the effectiveness of combining elevated solids levels with high fruit yield and size following early generation selection. More than a quarter of the lines had significantly higher SSC levels than the recurrent tomato parent, Purdue 812 (P812). Several lines combined high SSC and TSC with high fruit yield and large fruit size to produce more dry matter yield per hectare or per fruit than P812. Two backcrosses were optimal for combining high SSC and high yield. SSC and TSC were negatively correlated with fruit size and, to a lesser degree, with fruit yield. Key words: Lycopersicon esculentum, soluble solids, total solids


HortScience ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 586e-586
Author(s):  
Jesús Valencia ◽  
Donald M. May

An irrigation water study was conducted in the West side of Fresno County to evaluate the impact of recycled drainage water nitrogen and salinity content in the growth of direct seeded processing tomatoes to reduce nitrate-ground water pollution. Four canal water treatments (0.4 dS/m) received 0, 67.5, 101.2, and 168.7 kg of nitrogen per hectare and four saline water treatments (7.01 dS/m) received 0, 33.7, 67.5 and 135.0 kg nitrogen per hectare. All treatments were established with fresh canal water, and at first flower half of treatments were switched to saline water. The nitrogen content of water had an average of 283 ppm N-NO3 for the canal water and the drainage water contained 4489 ppm N-NO3. There was no significant yield differences between the irrigation methods and the two N-fertilizer sources applied to the tomatoes. However, drainage water produced a significant increase in fruit soluble solids (5.05 Av.) in comparison to canal water and synthetic fertilizer (4.3 Av.). The overall fruit quality and maturity was better in the drainage water treatments than it was in the fresh canal water with synthetic N-applied treatments.


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.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1405
Author(s):  
Islam F. Hassan ◽  
Maybelle S. Gaballah ◽  
Hanan M. El-Hoseiny ◽  
Mohamed E. El-Sharnouby ◽  
Shamel M. Alam-Eldein

Evolved in South Africa and released to market in 2009, the ‘African Rose’ plum has been introduced and grown under the Egyptian semi-arid conditions since 2010. Within that time, this cultivar has faced significant fruit quality issues, mainly poor color and low total soluble solids (TSS). Several trials using foliarly applied growth regulators have been conducted, but with little conspicuous results on fruit yield and quality. There is very limited information about the relationship between irrigation regime and fruit quality for this cultivar. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to study the effect of deficit irrigation on the quality of the ‘African Rose’ plum during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Five-year-old hedge growing trees were subjected to three deficit irrigation regimes: 100% (control), 80%, and 60% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) after the pit hardening stage until the end of the harvest season (May to June period) were evaluated. Results indicated that deficit irrigation positively enhanced the levels of abscisic acid (ABA), total phenols, and anthocyanins with improved fruit TSS and maturity index, although fruit yield, acidity, size, and firmness were decreased. Deficit irrigation could be suggested as a sustainable novel solution to improve the fruit quality of the ‘African Rose’ plum grown under the semi-arid conditions of Egypt. Although the total yield and some quality characteristics were not improved, the early harvested fruit with enhanced color and taste could be a good start for additional research to solve other quality-related issues under such conditions.


HortScience ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1234-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.M. del Amor ◽  
V. Martinez ◽  
A. Cerdá

The shortage of good quality water in semiarid zones necessitates the use of saline water for irrigation. In order to simulate the usage of brackish irrigation water in greenhouse melon (Cucumis melo L. cv. Galia) culture in perlite, plants were supplied with nutrient solutions containing 0 (control), 20, 40, and 60 mm NaCl applied at four different times. Treatments were applied during early vegetative growth [14 days after transplanting (DAT)], beginning of flowering (37 DAT), beginning of fruit set (56 DAT), and beginning of fruit ripening (71 DAT). All vegetative and fruit yield parameters were significantly reduced when salinization was started 14 DAT. This inhibitory effect of salinity was progressively lessened when salinity was imposed at later dates. This suggests that the response of melons to salinity depends on the duration of exposure to saline water. Salinity treatments increased fruit reducing sugars, acidity, and total soluble solids. Fruit yield reduction at each salinization time was correlated with salinity levels, but there was some evidence of a nutrient imbalance, since leaf concentrations of N-NO3, and especially K, were low at higher salinities. These results indicate that brackish waters can be used for growing melon with minimum yield losses if concentration and duration of exposure are carefully monitored.


HortScience ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 838B-838
Author(s):  
J.P. Mitchell ◽  
D.M. May ◽  
C. Shennan

Field studies were conducted in 1992 and 1993 to assess the effects of irrigation with saline drainage water on processing-tomato fruit yields and quality constituents. Saline water (ECiw = 7 dS/m) was used for 66% of the seasonal irrigation requirements in 1992 and 82% in 1993. Yields of tomatoes irrigated with saline water were maintained relative to nonsaline irrigation in 1992, but were decreased by 33% in 1993. Juice Brix and Bostwick consistency were generally improved by irrigation with saline water. pH was unaffected by irrigation treatment, and titratable acidity, an estimate of citric acid content, was increased only in 1993. Calculated quantities for various marketable processed product yields reflect the dominant influence of fresh fruit yield that masked, to a large extent, whatever quality enhancements that may have derived from saline irrigation. The substantial tomato yield reduction that occurred in the second year of this study in plots irrigated with saline drainage water, the gradual surface accumulation of boron, as well as the significant salt buildup in lower portions of the crop root zone following drainage water irrigations demonstrate definitive limitations to the reuse approach and restrict options for the crops that can be grown in this system and the frequency of saline drainage reuse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 380-394
Author(s):  
Arafat Alkhasha ◽  
Abdulrasoul Al-Omran ◽  
Ibrahim Louki

The aim of this study is to investigate impact of soil amendments (4% biochar, 0.4% polymer, and a combination of them) on soil moisture and salinity distribution, tomato yield, and water-use efficiency (WUE). Open-field experiments were conducted during two successive growing seasons in 2017 and 2018. The experiment consisted of three levels of irrigation treatments: 100%, 80%, and 60% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc); and two different water qualities: fresh 0.9 dS m−1 and saline electrical conductivity 3.6 dS m−1. Results revealed that at 100% of ETc, soil water distribution increased by 12.94%, 37.87%, and 42.21% at depths 0–15, 15–30, and 30–45 cm, with the addition of biochar, respectively, compared with control at same depths under freshwater, but the addition of polymer was increased by 6.35%, 16.56%, and 16.37%, respectively. While combination treatments increased by 15.70%, 24.80%, and 41.26%, at the depths aforementioned. Salt concentration was increased by 59.10% with biochar, whereas decreasing by 7.19% and 57.63% with polymer and mixture treatments, respectively. The results also showed that biochar and mixture treatments improved yield compared with the polymer and control, whereas saline water decreased the yield compared with freshwater. With deficit irrigation, WUE was increased by 28.54%, 40.98%, and 68.93% at 100%, 80%, and 60% of ETc, respectively, indicating it could be used as an irrigation management strategy under arid and semiarid field conditions.


Author(s):  
Federica Caradonia ◽  
Domenico Ronga ◽  
Alessia Flore ◽  
Riccardo Barbieri ◽  
Lionel Moulin ◽  
...  

Nowadays one of the main challenges in agriculture is to increase crop yield and quality in a sustainable way. Organic farming system (OFS) is considered more eco-friendly than the conventional farming system (CFS). However, cash crops showed a reduced yield when cultivated in OFS, and among them processing tomato reported the highest yield gap between OFS and CFS. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate, both in greenhouse and field experiments, the combined effects of a cherry rootstock, genotype ‘Tomito’, and the applications of different microbial biostimulants (single species and consortia). The agronomic performance of a commercial processing tomato genotype, ‘H3402’, was assessed in order to increase fruit yield and quality in sustainable farming systems. In greenhouse experiment, the use of ‘Tomito’ as rootstock highlighted both the highest plant height (35 cm) and leaf chlorophyll content (25.20), while plants inoculated with A. brasiliensis showed the highest number of flowers (4.5). In field experiment, the combined use of grafting and microbial biostimulants increased marketable (on average 2.3 kg plant–1) and total yield (on average 2.5 kg plant–1) in comparison with the genotype ‘H3402’. All the investigated treatments reduced the number of fruits affected by blossom-end rot (on average –4.7 fruits plant–1), and A. brasiliensis also improved the fruit solid soluble content, recording values of 6.23 °Brix and 3.54 of Brix t ha–1.


1989 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 893 ◽  
Author(s):  
PS Cornish ◽  
VQ Nguyen

High electrical conductivity (EC) in the soil solution or hydroponic medium is thought to increase the concentration of total soluble solids (TSS) and thereby improve the flavour of tomato fruit. We used trickle irrigation in 2 field experiments (1988, 1989) to apply KC1 at rates up to 4.4 t/ha to tomatoes to raise soil solution EC and examine the effects on TSS and other components of fruit quality, as well as yield. The KCl was subject to leaching in both years and EC varied widely despite regular additions of KCl. Where a high EC was achieved in 1988 (3.9 mS/cm) there was no effect on fruit firmness or TSS, but titratable acids (TA) increased from 7.25 to 8.0 m.e./100 mL. In 1989, high EC (>7mS/cm) resulted in a small increase in TSS (0.3%) in 1 of 6 harvests but significant (P<0.05) increases in TA in 4 harvests. Yield was unaffected (P>0.05). We conclude that irrigation with salinised water is unlikely to be an effective means of raising the TSS of tomatoes grown on freely draining soils in the high rainfall environment of coastal New South Wales.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document