Many genetic and genomic resources are becoming available for tomato. Ultimately, these will allow genes affecting the occurrence of BER to be identified. Such knowledge will inform breeding strategies to eliminate BER. In the meanwhile, increasing the apoplastic Ca concentration in susceptible fruit tissue should provide a simple and reliable, practical solution for the prevention of BER in tomatoes. It is suggested that current horticultural practices, such as the manipulation of the mineral composition of the feed or the growth environment, are not completely effective in reducing BER because they affect apoplastic Ca concentration in fruit tissue indirectly. Therefore, spraying Ca directly onto young fruits is recommended for the prevention of BER.
The limitation of tomato yield was investigated in a number of cultivars with contrasting fruiting habits. Unless light is limiting, yield is mainly restricted by the number or the size of the fruit (i.e. the sink strength) rather than the supply of assimilate (i.e. the source strength). Fruit size is determined by both cell number and cell size. The rate of fruit expansion is affected by assimilate supply, temperature and water relations in the plant. The size or the growth rate of a tomato fruit is regulated by the import of assimilate and water. The sink strength for assimilate of a tomato fruit measured by the rate of assimilate import may be related to the routes of sugar transport into the sink cells during fruit development. Enzymic regulation of the hydrolysis of sucrose by sucrose synthase and the accumulation of starch by ADPG pyrophosphorylase may determine the rate of assimilate import in the young fruit. Vacuolar invertase activity may determine the sugar composition of a mature fruit, but may not affect the overall dry matter accumulation of a tomato fruit. While yield is determined by the balance between source and sink strengths of the plant, quality is determined by the transport and metabolism of sugars within the fruit.
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