Tomatenproductie sturen van blad naar vrucht (BO-20-021-019)

The preliminary results of the ongoing project 'Het Nieuwe Gewas; Increasing the use of light by the plant ', show that the distribution of assimilates between leaves and fruit is altered in favor of the fruit by the open crop structure in which the young leaf has been deliberately plucked (55% of the planted leaves). The LAI of the open crop is about 2. The other crop structure (less leaf) also leads to less crop evaporation. This leads to less use of heat in the winter to drain the moisture.

The aim of this project is to optimally adjust the lighting to the crop needs and, on the other hand, research into the processes of the improved light utilization: the assimilation distribution and the use of the assimilates including breathing.

For this project, three cash departments are set up with the following treatments:

A: Low LAI- Very open crop. After flowering of the 2nd cluster, 2 leaves are removed from the head at a young stage per 3 leaves. This is done at 2 of the 3 bunches. 8 to 9 mature leaves are kept on the stem.

B: Normal LAI - Very open crop. The leaf picking strategy is similar to treatment A. 12-13 mature leaves are kept on the stem.

C: Increased stem density - Very open crop. The leaf picking strategy is similar to treatment A, but starts with a plant density of 3.25 stem / m2 instead of 2.5 stem / m2. The stem density is also brought to a higher end level.