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Tomato sap flow, stem and fruit growth in relation to water availability in rockwool growing medium

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Abstract

Background and aims

Irrigation strategies for glasshouse tomato are often based on solar radiation sums. However, due to new energy-saving climate control, current strategies might result in inappropriate irrigation. Because of the limited water buffering capacity of soilless growing media like rockwool, this could have adverse effects on fruit production and quality. We present an overview of tomato plant ecophysiological responses to substrate water availability to allow the evaluation of mechanistic hypotheses about internal plant water storage and depletion and reversible stem-fruit water transport.

Methods

The hydraulic properties of the growing medium were determined and plant water uptake, stem and fruit diameter variations were studied.

Results

A low substrate matric suction (−2 to −3 kPa) had a significant effect on stem and fruit growth dynamics. The substrate water retention curve indicated a sharp decrease in hydraulic conductivity, limiting the water availability for plant roots significantly.

Conclusions

The hydraulic properties of the growing medium are of utmost importance for plant water uptake, and should therefore be incorporated in plant models describing water flow. Internally stored water responds instantaneously to varying water availability and rates of water backflow from tomato fruits can be quite substantial.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Special Research Fund (B.O.F.) of Ghent University for the PhD funding granted to the first author. The authors are also indebted to Philip Deman, Geert Favyts and Maarten Volckaert for their technical support and to Herman Marien for the very useful comments.

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Author notes

  1. Tom De Swaef & Kathy Steppe

    Present address: Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

  2. Koen Verbist & Wim Cornelis

    Present address: Soil Physics Group, Department of Soil Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

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    1. Tom De Swaef
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    Correspondence to Tom De Swaef.

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    Responsible Editor: Rafael S. Oliveira.

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    De Swaef, T., Verbist, K., Cornelis, W. et al. Tomato sap flow, stem and fruit growth in relation to water availability in rockwool growing medium. Plant Soil 350, 237–252 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0898-4

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