Abstract
We investigated the effect of fruit load on the growth and yield of long term greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Elegance) to establish high and stable production method in Japanese climate. Three treatments set at differences in fruit number per truss in which fruits were pruned to four, six or no-thinning. Although there was not significant difference in the number of leaves and flowering trusses, leaf area of four fruit per truss was the largest, followed by others. The flowering rate and harvesting rate mainly depend on temperature but not on fruit load. The weight of leaf, stem and root decreased with increasing the number of fruit, especially reduction was higher in root was weight. Six fruits per truss produced the highest yield. The similar trend was observed in fruit dry weight. The average fruit weight of four fruits per truss was the biggest, followed by others. Fruit thinning had no effect on the Brix of the fruit. The high correlation was observed between total plant weight and fruit weight. The similar relation was observed between vegetative part weight and fruit weight. It can be concluded that the total plant weight was an important factor for high yield. Furthermore, six fruits per truss seem to be optimum number for high yield.
