Gibberellic acid induced multilocular fruits in tomato and the role of locule number and seed number in fruit size

Abstract

Young tomato plants were treated with gibberellic acid (GA3) at a stage before floral initiation. In the first truss produced after the treatment, the fresh weight and size of the fruit was lower than the controls but was significantly higher in trusses 2 to 4. Also, whereas in controls the fresh weight and size of tomato fruits steadily declined from truss 1 to truss 4, in GA3-treated plants there was a progressive increase in the fresh weight and size of the fruit. The number of locules per fruit of GA3-treated plants was also greater than the controls but not the number of seeds per fruit. Regression analyses show that both the locule number and seed number have a significant correlation with the fresh weight of the fruit and that these relationships are independent of each other.