ISHS Acta Horticulturae 548: International Symposium on Growing Media and Hydroponics
EFFECTS OF NaCl APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY IN NFT-TOMATO PLANTS |
| Authors: | M. Hohjo, M. Ganda, T. Maruo, Y. Shinohara, T. Ito |
| Keywords: | tomato, NFT, NaCl, nutrient concentration, blossom-end rot. |
| Abstract:
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of NaCl application on growth, yield and fruits quality of tomatoes (cv. House Momotaro) at different plant growth stages grown in NFT system. Nutrient solution used in this experiment was Enshi-shoho with two different levels of Electric conductivity (EC=1.8 and 3.0 dS·m-1). The plants grown in lower nutrient solution were applied NaCl with three levels of concentration in terms of the electric conductivity of 0, 0.6 and 1.2 dS·m-1 at three growing stages of 7, 30 and 60 days after transplanting respectively. Plants grown in the higher nutrient solution with additional NaCl showed higher plant height and darker leaf color at harvest of the first cluster. Total yields, on the contrary, were lower in those well-grown plants. The disadvantage in yield was slightly overcome by adding NaCl throughout growing period. The incidence of blossom end rot increased with increasing nutrient concentration associated with additional NaCl at later stage of plant growth. Fruit sugar contents measured by Brix meter were considerably higher in the plants grown with the enriched NaCl to the nutrient solutions, the values showed no difference among the plants of high nutrient level. Water uptake was greatly restricted by high nutrient concentration and NaCl application. The uptakes of some cations, such as K, Ca and Mg decreased markedly by NaCl application. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
