Seed and fruit set of the lateral suppressor mutant of tomato

Abstract

The lateral suppressor mutant ( ls) of tomato, mainly characterised by the suppression of axillary shoot development, exhibits reduced fruit growth, thereby limiting its use in tomato production. In this study male and female fertility, seed and fruit set have been investigated in detail. Mutant flowers produced less pollen. Pollinations with wild type pollen showed that mutant flowers exhibit reduced female fertility. With the ls mutant, reduced fruit weight due to decreased seed numbers was partly compensated by an additional stimulus of fruit growth, since mutant fruits were heavier than wild type fruits, when fruits with similar amounts of seeds were compared.