Parthenocarpic and Normal Fruits Compared as to Percentage of Setting and Size

Some Chemical Differences Between Artificially Produced Parthenocarpic Fruits and Normal Seeded Fruits of Tomato

“…The seeded fruits grown early in the season averaged 122 grams each and those grown late in the season 80 grams each. These values agree with those of Gustafson (1940). Howlett (1940) found that indole acetic acid produced small fruits when the varieties globe and globelle were used, but that indole butyric acid caused the fruits to grow as large if not larger than those with seeds.…”

“…Tomato fruits do not all ripen at the same rate, making it necessary to have some other criterion than age as a measure of their maturity. Color, which has been used as a measure of ripeness by MacGillivray (1926) and Gustafson et al, (1932), proved very satisfactory in these studies. For the immature fruits, however, the age The samples of ripening fruits were all matched according to color.…”

“…Condit (1920) has assembled a series of analyses of caprified and uncaprified figs made by a number of workers and he found that in several of the varieties studied there was more sugar and a higher dry weight in the uncaprified than in the caprified figs. 2 The development of a method of producing parthenocarpic fruit artificially by the use of growth promoting substances (Gustafson, 1936) has made it possible to produce both parthenocarpic and seeded fruits on the same plant or even on the same cluster. This makes it possible to make a much more accurate comparison between the parthenocarpic and seeded fruits and to learn something of the effects of the developing seeds on the fruit.…”

“…The first several sets of blossoms were removed to allow the plants to become vigorous. To produce parthenocarpy in the fruits the method developed by Gustafson (1936) was used. In this method the stamens are removed before the anthers dehisce, the style is cut off several millimeters above the ovary, and a small amount of growth promoting substance in lanolin is placed on the cut surface.…”