Effects of salinity at two ripening stages on the fruit quality of single-truss tomato grown in hydroponics

SummarySingle-truss tomato plants grown hydroponically (wet-sheet culture) were exposed to a salinity (EC) of 5.0 dS m21 or 8.0 dS m21 at two fruit ripening stages, the immature green stage and the decolouring stage. These salinities were achieved by adding NaCl to the standard solution, which had an EC of 2.4 dS m21. Increased salinity at the immature green stage improved fruit quality more than increased salinity at the decolouring stage but decreased fruit yield more. The reduction in fruit yield was due to a decrease in fruit weight but not in fruit number. Salinity increased the concentration of soluble solids, citrate, ascorbic acid, K, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, lycopene, and carotene in the fruit, but the absolute amount of these constituents per fruit was decreased or not affected. These results suggest that the improvement in fruit quality induced by the salinity is caused by the reduction of water import into the fruit. The effectiveness of both salinities was significantly bigger when it was applied at the earlier development stage, suggesting that mature fruit would be less sensitive to strength of the EC.