Abstract
Processing tomato is the second most important worldwide cash crop, generally produced in high-input systems. However, fruit yield and quality are affected by agronomic management, particularly nitrogen (N) fertilization, whose application to indeterminate growth genotypes for canning has yet to be investigated in depth. Hence, the objective of this work was to assess the effects of different N rates (0, 50, 125, 200, 275, and 350 kg ha−1) on fruit yield and quality characteristics of processing tomato ‘San Marzano’ landrace. The results of our study showed that 125 and 200 kg of N ha−1 are the most appropriate rates in soil with high fertility, ensuring the highest values of marketable yield and brix yield. However, plants fertilized with 125 kg of N ha−1 attained higher values of N efficiency and fruit K and P concentrations than plants fertilized with 200 kg of N ha−1. Our results suggest that overdoses of N supplies negatively affected fruit yield and quality of San Marzano landrace grown in high soil fertility conditions, also reducing the agricultural sustainability. Hence, specific agronomic protocol and extension services are required to optimally manage tomato crop systems.
Highlights
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most economically important cash crops produced worldwide under different environments and latitudes [1]
Marketable yield (MY), as the most important yield parameter, was affected by N fertilization and the highest values were displayed by N-125 (52.4 t ha−1 ) and N-200 (53.8 t ha−1 ) which did not significantly differ by N-275 and N-350 treatments
The highest total yield was instead observed for N-200 rate (+29% in respect to N-0); while lower unmarketable yield (UMY) values were found for N-50, N-125; N-275 and N-350 in comparison with the unfertilized control
Summary
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most economically important cash crops produced worldwide under different environments and latitudes [1]. The worldwide processing tomato production, suitable to produce specific canning products like peeled tomato, paste and sauce, increased by ~70% [2]. From this point of view, Italy is the most important producer in Europe and the second one in the world [2]. The oldest and most famous variety for this tomato-based product is ‘San. Marzano’, coming from Southern Italy and showing valuable organoleptic features such as taste, colour, texture and nutritional quality [3,4].
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