Variability of the Course of Tomato Growth and Development in Poland as an Effect of Climate Change

Abstract

The course of phenological phases play an important role in the shaping of yield quantity and quality (Mozny et al., 2009; Peiris et al., 1996; Tao et al., 2006). The length of the development stages is important for the proper formation of both vegetative and reproductive organs. The main meteorological factor affecting the rate of plant development is air temperature (Ahmed et al., 2004; Chmielewski et al., 2005; Popov et al., 2003; Schleip et al., 2009b; Sysoeva et al., 1997). Since the mid-20th century significant changes in temperature values have been observed in the growing season of crop plants. For instance, in the years 1961-2000, the average increase in air temperature in Germany, in the February-April period, amounted to 0.41oC/10 years (Chmielewski et al., 2004). In Poland, an increase in average air temperature during each April-October period in 1973-2002, on average, amounted to 0.54oC/10 years (Kalbarczyk E. & Kalbarczyk R., 2010). Similarly, positive temperature trends have been confirmed for the growing seasons of, e.g., onions and cucumber (Kalbarczyk, 2009a, 2009b, 2010a). Positive trends of air temperature in the growing seasons of crop plants have also been confirmed in other parts of the world (Bonofiglio et al., 2009; Matsumoto, 2010; Parey, 2008; Peng et al., 2004). Since the mid-20th century changes in air temperature values have had influence on the course of the growth and development of plants. All over the world research studies focused on the reactions of fruit trees (Chmielewski et al., 2004; Fujisawa & Kobayashi, 2010), wild-growing plants (Gordo & Sanz, 2009; Kalvāne et al., 2009; Moiseev et al., 2010; Yoshie, 2010), and crop plants (Ahas et al., 2002; Dalezios et al., 2002; Kalbarczyk, 2009a; Mazurczyk et al., 2003; Menzel, 2000) have been conducted. Changes in temperature values lead to changes in duration of particular stages and the whole growing season of plants (Peiris et al., 1996; Song et al., 2008; Tao et al., 2006). Shifts in the course of the phenological phases may be radically different. The phenological phases are influenced by climate change, and depend on the species and a region of the world. Differences include acceleration to time delay of the date of a phenophase (Chmielewski et al., 2004; Jorquera-