Abstract:

In order to discuss the effect of root restriction on cherry tomato fruit quality and leaf nitrogen metabolism. In this experiment, the impact of root restriction on Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Jinzhu’ single fruit weight, fruit quality, NO3--N content and nitrate reductase (NR) activity in a substrate cultivation with different cubage pots. Results showed that root restriction reduced the single fruit weight and increased the fruit quality, namely soluble solid content (12.50%), tritratable acid content (21.75%), vitamin C content (3.41%). Moreover, the improvement of quality and decrease of single fruit weight became more significant with reduction of cubage pots. NO3--N content and NR activity in leaves also decreased with root restriction. Thus, root restrictions improved fruit quality, at the same time, reduced fruit yield and weakened leaf nitrogen metabolism. This study had important instruction meaning for high quality tomato cultivation in some extent.