Effects of different day and night salinity levels on vegetative growth, yield and quality of tomato

SummaryTomato plants were grown in nutrient film technique at constant, and different, day and night salinity levels to investigate whether salinity could be used to control vegetative growth, fruit yield and quality (size, dry matter percentage, and incidence of blossom-end rot (BER)). Greenhouse experiments were conducted with the following salinity treatments: 5/5, 9/9, 1/9 and 9/1 (day/night salinity levels in dS m−1). The salinity treatments influenced fruit yield clearly: Yield was increased greatly at 1/9. It was decreased at 9/1, although not as much as at 9/9. Yield differences were mainly due to differences in average fruit size, except at 9/9, where after 12 weeks of harvesting, the number of harvested fruits was decreased too. Considering the number of unripe fruits on the plants, in the near future a lower number of harvested fruits was expected at 9/1, and a slightly higher number at 1/9 as compared with 5/5. These differences in the numbers of harvested fruits were partially due to differen...

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