Tomato Seed Development and Quality as Influenced by Preharvest Treatment with Ethephon

Abstract

Abstract Plants of two cultivars of processing tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, cvs. UC82B and VF145B-7879) were sprayed with ethephon solutions 10 days prior to harvest. Seeds were extracted from fruits that had been tagged at anthesis to allow separation into age classes ranging from 31 to 70 days at harvest. Seed dry weight increased rapidly until ≈40 days after anthesis, then remained relatively constant for 10 to 15 days before increasing again. During the plateau phase, the initial (5-day) germination percentages increased by 20% to 40% and final (10-day) germination increased by 6% to 10%. Germination percentages then fell slightly with increasing maturity and dry weight accumulation. Preharvest ethephon treatment caused younger fruit to ripen and shifted the development of maximum germinability toward young seed ages, without influencing dry weight accumulation. Seeds ≤53 days old at harvest increased in germination due to ethephon treatment, whereas seeds older than 53 days showed decreased germination. Since the bulk of harvested seeds will be in the older classes, overall seed quality may be affected adversely by preharvest ethephon applications. Although seed lots from ethephon-treated plants still had acceptable germination, there would appear to be no benefit from ethephon applications to tomatoes destined solely for seed production. Chemical names used: (2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid (ethephon).