Effects of Defoliation on the Incidence of Blossom-End Rot in Tomato Fruit (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Abstract

We removed 50 % of the leaflets from tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), which reduced whole plant transpiration and xylem sap, to investigate defoliation effects on the incidence of blossom-end rot (BER). As a result, both ‘NDM0112’ and ‘Summer Kiss’, high and low BER cultivars, respectively, shoed a reduced BER incidence in plants receiving defoliation treatment. Furthermore, the concentration of nutrient solution also effected the incidence of BER: a higher concentration of nutrient solution induced more BER. However, defoliation treatment did not decrease the number of marketable fruit or the fresh weight per fruit. Our results indicated that defoliation treatment of tomato plants could reduce BER incidence without compromising marketable yield.