Sustainable Transfer of Tomato Landraces to Modern Cropping Systems: The Effects of Environmental Conditions and Management Practices on Long-Shelf-Life Tomatoes

Joan Casals,Clara Pons,Montserrat Martí,Aurora Rull

doi:10.3390/agronomy11030533

Abstract

The individual effects of biotic and abiotic factors on tomatoes have been widely reported. However, under commercial conditions, multiple interactions between factors occur, masking or even changing the direction of their effects in some cases. Here we report a comprehensive analysis of preharvest factors affecting yield, quality (soluble solids content, fruit color, and firmness), and shelf-life of long-shelf-life Mediterranean varieties of tomatoes. We studied five long-shelf-life genotypes under 16 growing environments, including tunnel and open-air systems and suboptimal to excessive fertigation (22–142% crop evapotranspiration). The results enabled us to classify traits into three groups according to the importance of the contributions of different types of factors: mainly genotype (ripening earliness and firmness), genotype plus environment (yield, fruit weight, water-use efficiency (WUE)), or genotype plus environment plus the interaction between genotype and environment (cracking, soluble solids content, and shelf-life). Under similar management practices, open-air conditions optimized yields, and high fertigation doses improved yield and marketability (firmness), but reduced quality (redness and soluble solids content). WUE was maximized under low-input cropping systems (comparable to traditional agrosystems), and the balance between WUE and yield was optimized when fertigation was adjusted to the requirements of the crop. Shelf-life was negatively correlated with high-yielding environments, and day–night amplitude in relative humidity was strongly correlated with the incidence of fruit cracking. The present study sheds light on the contributions of environment and management practices on tomato yield and quality, and provides a basis on which to select better management practices for the novel commercial group of European long-shelf-life tomato landraces.

Highlights

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most widely grown vegetable in the world, being cultivated with a wide range of techniques in very diverse environments in 177 countries [1], including low-input open-air fields, low-tech greenhouses, and high-tech greenhouses [2,3].Given the economic importance of the crop and wide variability in growing conditions, large amounts of time and money have been invested in research to understand genetic and environmental factors influencing yield and quality traits [2,4,5,6,7,8]
Studies are usually designed to isolate the effects of particular environmental factors and conducted under controlled conditions; when these results are transferred to commercial conditions, the effects can be diluted in the complex matrix of interactions between the myriad factors that simultaneously affect plants in fields
A panel of five long-shelf-life genotypes were grown in 16 trials representing a wide variability of environments and management practices

Summary

Introduction

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most widely grown vegetable in the world, being cultivated with a wide range of techniques in very diverse environments in 177 countries [1], including low-input open-air fields (yielding up to 40 t/ha), low-tech greenhouses (yielding 50–100 t/ha), and high-tech greenhouses (yielding > 400 t/ha) [2,3].Given the economic importance of the crop and wide variability in growing conditions, large amounts of time and money have been invested in research to understand genetic and environmental factors influencing yield and quality traits [2,4,5,6,7,8]. Studies are usually designed to isolate the effects of particular environmental factors and conducted under controlled conditions; when these results are transferred to commercial conditions, the effects can be diluted in the complex matrix of interactions between the myriad factors that simultaneously affect plants in fields. For this reason, to gain a comprehensive understanding of crop responses to biotic and abiotic factors, it is necessary to assess the combined effects of genotype x environment x management factors (GxExM) [4,9]. Various authors have pointed out the need to consider combinations of factors affecting tomato plant performance in efforts to understand the pathogen–environment complex [2,10], fruit quality [4], or the interactions between irrigation and fertilization doses [11,12].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion