Diverse response of tomato fruit explants to high temperature

Tomato explants (fruit with a pedicel and a piece of peduncle), with fruit growth stimulated by treating the flowers with NOA + GA<sub>3</sub> (NG-series) were used as a model system for studying the effect of high temperature on C-sucrose uptake, its distribution and Ca retranslocation. Two cultivars with contrasting responses to high temperature were compared. In sensitive cv. Roma heat stress during 22h (40<sup>o</sup>C for 10h and 30<sup>o</sup>C for 12h), drastically depressed the uptake of ¹⁴C-sucrose coinciding with diminished fruit ¹⁴C-supply. It also decreased the specific activity of soluble acid invertase and the calcium content. All these strong negative responses to high temperature were markedly reduced in the NG-treated series involving remobilization of Ca to the fruits and a higher stability of the invertase activity. This indicates the indirect role of flower treatment with NG in addaptation to heat stress. In tolerant cv. Robin even higher temperatures (42<sup>o</sup>C for 10h and 34<sup>o</sup>C for 12h) were not stressful. They did not affect the ¹⁴C-sucrose uptake and stimulated ¹⁴C-supply to the fruit. Increased specific activity of acid invertase and a higher calcium content were also recorded but only in the control explants. In contrast to cv. Roma elevated temperature was slightly stressful for cv. Robin explants of NG-series. The differences in response of both cultivar explants to elevated temperature, based on unequal fruit supply with ¹⁴C-sucrose, seem to be causaly connected with two factors: the invertase activity being more or less sensitive to the heat stress, the ability to translocate Ca to the heated fruits.