Het Nieuwe Gewas : sturen van de plantvorm voor verhoogde lichtbenutting

Wageningen UR Greenhouse horticulture searched in the “The New Crop” project for the crop structure that best contributes to the goal of energy-efficient production and therefore energy saving, by removing 33, 44 or 55% of the leaves at a young stage. On October 10th 2014 the experiment started with topped plants of the tomato variety Brioso grafted on Maxifort. Dry matter production was lowest in the very open crop, however partitioning to the fruits was highest in that treatment. Therefore, this crop produced in the winter under assimilation lighting most. In summer, the standard treatment was the best and the production in this treatment was highest. The plants in the very open treatment were shorter and had smaller leaves than the plants of the standard treatment. This is might be due to a different red: far red ratio of light in the crop. Leaf picking at a young stage contributes to better distribution of assimilates to the fruits. This can be used as a crop management measure as the plant in winter develops too much leaves. The project was funded by the Dutch energy transition program “Kas als Energiebron”.