Influence of fruit ripening acceleration measures on flowering and fruiting of small-sized tomato

Abstract

The investigations were carried out in 2001-2003 at the Horticulture Experimental Station, University of Agriculture in Szczecin. The influence of truss cutting and application of Ethrel preparation on the flowering and acceleration of ripening of small-sized tomato fruit was studied. The experiment focused on the following factors: methods of acceleration of tomato fruit ripening (truss cutting, Ethrel preparation, truss cutting + Ethrel preparation) and tomato cultivars ('Cheresita F1', 'Favorita F1'). The applied methods had no influence on the number of flowers and germs of the small-sized tomato. The truss cutting increased the percentage of set fruits compared to the number of flowers. The application of Ethrel preparation along with truss cutting significantly increased the early yield of tomato fruits. The Ethrel and truss cutting accelerated the small-sized tomato harvesting by 12 days. Cv. 'Cheresita F1' produced a larger number of flowers, germs and fruits than 'Favorita F1'.