Effects of day and night air temperature in early season on growth, productivity and energy use of spring tomato

Abstract

Papadopoulos, A. P. and Hao, X. 2001. Effects of day and night air temperature in early season on growth, productivity and energy use of spring tomato. Can. J. Plant. Sci. 81: 303-311. Effects of air temperature on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) growth, yield and heating energy consumption were investigated in spring of 1993 and 1994. Tomato plants were grown under nine day/night air temperature regimes formed by factorial combination of three day (19, 20 and 21°C) and three night (16, 17 and 18°C) heating temperature set points. Early (until 30 April) fruit yield increased but early fruit size decreased with increasing daily average air temperature (MT, 24-h mean). The plants grown under high daily average air temperature early in the season had lower fruit yield late in the season. Plants grown under high night air temperature (NT) and low day air temperature (DT) during the early production period achieved high fruit yield in early season and avoided the negative effects of high MT on early fruit size; these plants also had high yield and large fruit size late in the season. The different day and night heating temperature regimes studied caused no more than 10% in heating energy use variation. Therefore, for greenhouse tomato production under Great Lakes conditions (approx. 42°N), the optimal day/night air temperature (from January to April) is 20.8-21.0/18.5-19.0°C (actual air temperatures). Key words:Lycopersicon esculentum, tomato, yield, quality, fruit size, daily average air temperature (MT), day-night air temperature difference (DIF), day air temperature (DT), night air temperature (NT) Greenhouses are designed to enhance crop productivity or to produce crops out of season by providing a favourable plant growth environment. Heating to increase greenhouse temperature in cold climates has a major effect on the cost of operation, as well as on productivity. This has motivated considerable research on the effects of day (DT) and night (NT) air temperature on the growth and productivity of greenhouse crops. Daily average air temperature (24-H mean, MT) was clearly found to affect the growth rate of greenhouse plants. Growth, expressed in terms of dry weight, leaf area or stem length, reached a maximum at 21-23°C for vegetative sweet peppers (Bakker and Van Uffelen 1988) and at around 25°C for vegetative tomato plants (Hussey 1965). However, faster growth rates in crop plants do not always lead to higher yield. Also, optimal temperatures for early and final yield may differ. High temperature during the early growth period promoted leaf expansion and thus light interception, as well as flowering, fruit development and early yield (Slack and Hand 1983;Pearce et al. 1993;Challa et al. 1995). However, de Koning (1988 found that high air temperature enhanced early fruit growth at the expense of vegetative growth. While early yield was positively correlated to high NT, final yield was not affected by high NT (Slack and Calvert 1978).Air temperature also affects fruit quality. Low air temperature increased...

Response of Greenhouse Tomato to Varied Low Pre-night Temperatures at the Same Daily Integrated Temperature

“…The PNT treatments did not affect plant height (Table 3) and internode length (same trend as plant height, data not shown). A lot of research has been conducted to investigate the effects of day temperature, night temperature, and daynight temperature difference (DIF) on plant height and internode length (De Koning, 1992;Papadopoulos and Hao, 2000a). Plant height and internode length of tomatoes are usually increased with increasing DIF (De Koning, 1992).…”

“…High early-season yield is especially important in greenhouse vegetable production in cold regions because the market price is usually much higher before the field products can reach the market. Increasing temperature can speed up plant growth and development, which could increase early yield (Papadopoulos and Hao, 2000a). However, this may not be feasible under the low light conditions in winter; the high respiration resulting from the high temperature may exhaust the limited photoassimilates, reducing yield.…”

Effect of difference between day and night temperature on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) root activity and low molecular weight organic acid secretion

“…Under greenhouse conditions, temperature, solar radiation, and nutrient and water availability must be carefully controlled to optimize tomato growth (Allen and Ort 2001;Shah and Paulsen 2003;Wahid et al 2007). The difference between day and night temperature (DIF) can limit crop growth and yield (Papadopoulos and Hao 2001;Li et al 2004), and must also be considered in greenhouse production of tomato. Matsuda et al (2014) reported that tomato leaf light saturation point and compensation point declined dramatically under 0°C DIF compared with continuous lighting, which affected the photosynthetic rate and dry matter accumulation.…”

Effect of NPK Fertilizer Rates on Growth and Yield of Field and Greenhouse Grown Pepino Melon (<i>Solanum muricatum</i> Aiton)

“…This might be the reason why field grown fruits had a higher fruit weight compared to greenhouse grown fruits. Papadopoulus and Hao [37] reported that day temperatures of 19°C led to early yields, total yield and the best fruit weight for greenhouse grown tomatoes. Therefore, if the temperature is above 19°C fruit size will be reduced and this is due to decreased pollination and fertilization at high temperatures [38].…”