Carbon dioxide elevation combined with sufficient irrigation and nitrogen fertilization improves fruit quality of tomato grown in glasshouse

ABSTRACT

To investigate the interactive effects of elevated CO₂ (e[CO₂]), nitrogen (N) supply and irrigation regimes on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L., cv. Elin) yield, water use efficiency (WUE) and fruit quality, potted plants were grown in glasshouse compartments with CO₂ concentration of 400 and 800 ppm, separately, with 0 or 0.5 g N kg⁻¹ soil. Since anthesis, the plants were subjected to three irrigation levels (I1, I2 and I3 – irrigated to 35% soil water content (SWC, v/v), 30% SWC and 25% SWC, respectively). e[CO₂] had a slight effect on fruit yield and sugar, acid, soluble solids content (SSC) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in fruit juice, while it enhanced Mn, B and Fe contents in fruit biomass. WUE was improved by e[CO₂] and I3 irrigation, but reduced by N supply. Though N supply lowered SSC, TAC, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ in fruit juice, it increased micro-nutrient (Mn, Mo, Cu, Zn, Fe) contents in fruit biomass. Most notably, principal component analysis revealed the best comprehensive quality of tomato fruits was found for plants grown under e[CO₂] with sufficient irrigation and N supply, suggesting optimal irrigation and N fertilization are essential for good tomato quality in glasshouse production under CO₂-enriched environment.

KEYWORDS:

• CO₂ elevation
• minerals
• water supply
• water use efficiency
• comprehensive quality

Acknowledgements

Jie Liu appreciates the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for supporting his study at the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. This work was partly supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2452018063) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51909220). Technical assistance by René Hvidberg Petersen and Lene Kofsholm Jørgensen is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51909220]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2452018063].