SUGAR AND ORGANIC ACID CONTENT OF TOMATO FRUITS (LYCOPERSICON LYCOPERSICUM MILL.) GROWN ON AEROPONICS AT DIFFERENT PLANT DENSITY

Abstract

The quality of tomato fruits (Lycopersicon lycopersicum Mill.) depends on factors such as production conditions, the chosen cultivar, fertilisation, plant density, etc. The quality of tomato fruits cv. ‚Arletta™ grown on aeroponics has been analysed. The influence of plant density and pruning on yield quantity and quality was measured. Quality components were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The contents of sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose and xylose) and organic acids (citric, malic, shikimic and fumaric acid) were analysed separately with regard to different plant density & 12, 16, 20 and 24 plants m &2 production surface. Evaluations showed that the differences in tomato quality, regarding the sugar (sucrose 0.46 g kg &1, glucose 14.31 g kg &1, fructose 12.06 g kg &1, xylose 0.27 g kg &1) and acid content (citric 7.79 g kg &1, malic 0.68 g kg &1, shikimic 4.36 g kg &1, fumaric 14.34 g kg &1) are not significant statistically with regard to plant density.