Effect of Microclimate on Yield and Quality Attributes of Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiforme) under Open Field and Polyhouse Conditions

Cherry tomatoes are usually cultivated under greenhouse which is out of the reach of the marginal farmers. Due to unavailability of microclimatic and biochemical data in cherry tomato, meagre yield is obtained at open field conditions. Since the microclimatic factors and growing environment have immense influence on yield and quality attributes of any crop, this experiment was aimed to study the correlation of microclimate with the yield and quality contributing traits of eighteen genetically diverse genotypes of cherry tomato at open field trained on trellis and under naturally ventilated polyhouse conditions. In the given study, under open conditions, mean canopy temperature in morning at 7 a.m. (15.3-19.4°C) showed highly significant positive correlation with total yield, whereas total yield possessed highly significant negative association with the mean mid-day (12 noon) canopy temperature and mean mid-day soil temperature above 25°C. In poly house condition, total yield reflected significant negative correlation with morning mean canopy temperature (24.6°C) and mid-day mean canopy temperature (25.8-26°C), whereas total yield was negatively correlated with morning and mid-day mean soil temperature when the temperature was above 20.7°C. Among biochemical parameters, lycopene and beta-carotene content increased with mean canopy temperature at 19.5°C and further decreased above 21.5°C, however TSS increased with increase in mean canopy temperature from 15 to 25°C and decreased beyond 30°C temperature.