ABSTRACT
Defoliation effect on three phenological stages upon tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) yield under greenhouse

Susana Martínez1, María Cecilia Grimaldi, Mariana Garbi y Miguel Artur
 

A tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) crop was grown under greenhouse in La Plata, Argentina (34º58´S lat, 57º54´W long) with the aim of studying the effect on the yield of the elimination of the third leaf between trusses in three phenological stages: T1) Check (control without defoliation); T2) pruning at flowering (all flowers open); T3) pruning at petal fall; T4) pruning with 10 mm diameter fruits. Hybrids FA 144 and Fortaleza were defoliated up to the fifth truss. Final yield and the commercial classes were registered up to the 7th truss. All defoliating treatments yielded better than the control. Among commercial classes, only third quality fruits (between 120 and 100 g) showed significant differences between treatments, founding an interaction between defoliating treatments and hybrids. FA 144 yielded better in this class for pruning at flowering.

Keywords: leaf pruning, phenology.
1 Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, CC 31 (1900) La Plata, Argentina. E-mail: clima@ceres.agro.unlp.edu.ar.