1. University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest
Faculty of Horticulture
International Student Symposium “Hortus Academicus”
March 29, 2019, Bucharest, Romania
EFFECT OF FOLIAR SPRAYING WITH ARGININE, CYSTEINE AND THE NUMBER OF STEMS ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF CHERRY TOMATOES CULTIVATED IN GREENHOUSE
Author name: Rotaru Paul Cristian
Coordinator Professor: Prof.dr. Hoza Gheorghita
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

2. Introduction
Foliar spray fertilizer is a good way to supplement the nutritional needs of the plants and what makes foliar spraying so special and an excellent way to address any type of nutrient deficiency is that spraying is much faster compared to applying nutrients to the soil via irrigation.
Pruning levels influence plant developmental characteristics, yield, and fruit quality of the indeterminate growth tomatoes.
Fig.1 – Ema de Buzau variety
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29 , Bucharest, Romania

3. Materials and Methods
This experiment was conducted at the experimental field of Faculty of Horticulture, Bucharest, in the summer of 2018, in a greenhouse. The biological material used was the Romanian variety of cherry tomatoes “Ema de Buzau”. Two amino acids were used, cysteine and arginine, in two rates, 200 and 400 ppm, applied by spraying on plants, once per week for a period of four weeks, and the plants were conducted with 1 and 2 stems.
Fig.2 – Aspect of the establishment of the culture
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29 , Bucharest, Romania

4. Distance between root collar and the first cluster
Measurements
-average number of flowers in cluster
-distance between clusters
-average number of fruits in cluster
-percentage of fruits set in cluster
-average fruit weight
-total number of fruits per plant h
Distance between root collar and the first cluster
Total yield
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

5. The planting scheme
Randomized block design (factorial) consisted of 3 randomised blocks with 6 treatments, with a distance of 80 cm between lines and 40 cm between plants
Fig.3 – Distance between plants
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

6. Treatments of cultivar Ema de Buzau
Experimental scheme
Treatments of cultivar Ema de Buzau
Control
Single stem
Double stems
Arginine 200 ppm
Arginine 400 ppm
Cysteine 200 ppm
Cysteine 400 ppm

7. Results and discussions
The effect of the number of stems applications clearly showed that the single stem plants average height (208.4cm) was bigger, compering with double stem plants (184.7cm), but didn’t effect significantly the stem diameter, chlorophyll content and photosynthesis.
Treatments
Plant height (cm)
Chlorophyll content
mg/m2
Photosynthesis
µmol CO2 m-2 s-1
Control
Single stem
208.4 d
19.07 d
15.29 b
Double stems
184.7 e
18.12 d
15.74 b
Arginine 200ppm
251.2 ab
26 ab
19.18 a
242.5 b
20.45 cd
19.91 a
Arginine 400ppm
252.5 a
28.25 a
20.53 a
230.5 c
21.43 cd
19.68 a
Cysteine 200ppm
231.2 c
29.35 a
20.26 a
213.1 d
23.04 bc
16.47 b
Cysteine 400ppm
27.08 ab
19.62 a
235.7 b
23.93 b
16.48 b
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

9. Some parameters of the production
Treatments
Fruit set
(%)
Average
of Fruit weight/plant (g)
Yield
/plant
(g)
Control
Single stem
55.68 c
4,92 d f
Double stem
54.31 c
4,83 d d
Arginine 200 ppm
68.64 a
5,45 c f
69.32 a
5,36 c c
Arginine 400 ppm
61.32 b
6,70 a e
58.88 b
6,69 a a
Cysteine 200 ppm
60.05
5,71 b f
65.78 b
5,53 bc d
Cysteine 400 ppm
65.87 a
6,71 a e
67.49 a
6,63 a b

10. Fig.4 and 5 – The size of the fruits for arginine treated plants
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

11. Conclusions and recommendations
Statistically significant changes were observed in all growth and yield parameters for double stem plants over the single stem ones.
All parameters were highly influenced by cysteine and arginine, especially when used at higher rates.
Thus, under similar growing conditions, it may be recommended that cherry tomatoes to be lend with 2 stems and to be applied foliar amino acid spraying for a higher yield and better quality fruits.
International Student Symposium "Hortus Academicus“ March 29, Bucharest, Romania

12. Thank you for your attention