Influence of nighttime electrical conductivity of substrate solution on fruit cracking and blossom‐end rot of greenhouse tomato in the tropics

Summary

Abstract The influence of the electrical conductivity (EC) of the substrate solution during the night, i.e., moderately high EC (“HEC”, 3.0 dS m–1, full solution) and low EC (“LEC”, 0.5 dS m–1, CaCl2 or Ca(NO3)2 and H3BO3), on the incidences of blossom‐end rot (BER) and fruit cracking (FC) in greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) was investigated and compared with a control without additional nighttime fertigation (NTF). In three consecutive experiments conducted in Central Thailand between November 2005 and March 2007, additional NTF cycles were applied for 1 h after the regular daytime fertigation (EC 1.5/1.8 dS m–1, prior to/after the first harvest). In the first experiment (dry season 2005/06), two cultivars with either low (FMTT 260) or high (King Kong 2) susceptibility to BER a