Effect of irrigation on yield parameters and antioxidant profiles of processing cherry tomato

Abstract

A two-year (2010 and 2011) open field experiment was conducted to study the effect of drip irrigation and seasonal variation on the yield parameters and main bioactive components, carotenoids (mainly all trans, cis lycopene, and β-carotene), polyphenols (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, gallic acid, quercetin, rutin, naringin, etc.), and tocopherols of processing Strombolino F1 cherry tomatoes. The irrigated plants (STI) gave a higher marketable yield (61% and 101% respectively), and rain fed plants showed a yield loss. Water supply had a strong positive (R2=0.98) effect on marketable yield in 2011, but weak (R2=0.69) in 2010. In both years, the antioxidant concentration (all carotenoids, total polyphenols, tocopherols) showed a decrease with irrigation. Water supply affected the composition of carotenoids to a considerable extent. The optimum water supply treatment gave a lower proportion of lycopene than the rain fed control (STC) treatment. We observed significant negative correlation between rutin concentration and irrigation. The α-tocopherol concentration was significantly higher in STC treatments. Irrigation negatively influenced antioxidant concentrations of cherry tomato fruits, but higher yield could account for the concentration loss of individual fruits by higher antioxidant production per unit area.

Regulation of On-Tree Vitamin E Biosynthesis in Olive Fruit during Successive Growing Years: The Impact of Fruit Development and Environmental Cues

“…Past work on plant abiotic stress tolerance has shown decreases in net tocopherol levels resulting from increasing stress factors such as drought, especially on stress-sensitive plants such as Salvia officinalis (Munné-Bosch et al, 2001), while Pék et al (2014) demonstrated increases in α-tocopherol content of rain fed cherry tomatoes. Contrarily, Loyola et al (2012) demonstrated that α-tocopherol biosynthesis is part of the adaptation mechanisms to drought stress of Solanum chilense , a wild tomato genotype naturally growing in water deficit conditions.…”

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“…Further inoculation with commercial inoculum did enhance crop productivity and colonization rate, with no quality improvement (Bakr et al, 2017;Candido et al, 2015). In tomato, antioxidants composition is affected by abiotic factors such as irrigation, temperature, and light (Pék et al, 2014), but mycorrhization could improve lycopene and β-carotene in fruits (Ulrichs et al, 2008).…”

“…Seedlings were arranged in double (twin) rows with 1.1 m and 0.4 m inter rows distance and 0.2 m between plants. Depending on air temperature (data taken from the National Metrological institute) plants daily water requirement calculated (daily water demand mm = average daily Temperature ºC x 0.2 mm ºC -1 ) after Pék et al (2014). The experimental site had a brown forest soil, loamy in texture (41% sand, 47.5% silt, and 11.5% clay) with a bulk density of 1.49g cm -3 , 25% field capacity, neutral in pH, free from salinity (0.212 dS m -1 ), low in organic matter 1.4%, and contains [(NO 3 --N (8.6 g kg -1 ), P 2 O 2 (8 g kg -1 ), K 2 O (56.7 g kg -1 )] super elements.…”

Variable Rate Precision Irrigation Technology for Deficit Irrigation of Processing Tomato

“…Since tomato is one of the most significant horticultural crops in the world and its production (FAO, 2018) is only effective -in most of its production area-when proper irrigation is provided, hence knowledge about its reaction to irrigation is very important. However, under-irrigation is a potential way to enhance the quality of processing tomato (Pék et al, 2017). Under-irrigation negatively affects the plant's biomass and yield production.…”