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RESEARCH: SUPER DWARF
CULTIVAR STUDIES: TOMATO |
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Yield is
proportional to light absorption, but maximum light cannot always be
supplied to crops in either space station production settings or in
teaching situations. It is therefore important to determine how crops
grow in light-limited conditions.
‘Micro-Tom’ tomato was grown in fluorescent light under shade cloth to
provide 100, 200, and 300 umol m-2 s-1 for 16-h
photoperiods at 26/22 oC for 117 days.
Yield and harvest index increased as light increased. There were
significant amounts of unripe fruit after 117 days. During ripening,
the fraction of dry matter decreases within the fruit.
The higher yield was likely
due to better fruit set in higher light, as evidenced by higher
numbers of fruit with additional light. Higher light did not
influence ripening, and the fraction of red fruit stayed constant with
all light.
‘Micro-Tom’ was able to set and ripen fruit even
at extremely low light levels.
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