Differences between ethylene emission characteristics of tomato cultivars in tomato production at plant factory

Abstract Ethylene is not only well known as a unique gaseous hormone, which has various impacts on plant growth, but also considered to be closely related to tomato productivity and occurrence of fruit physiological disorders. On the other hand, the different tomato cultivars were also considered as key factors influencing tomato productivity and quality. In this study, we examined the differences between ethylene emission characteristics of different tomato cultivars. Our results confirmed that the Dutch tomato cultivar ‘Endeavour’ emitted less ethylene compared to other Japanese tomato cultivars, whereas ethylene emission in ‘Rinnka409’ was significantly higher than that in other cultivars. We observed that the wounding treatment resulted in rapid increase in ethylene emission in tomato, and the increase in ethylene emission was much higher in the ‘Momotarou Youku’ cultivar than that in the ‘Endeavour’ cultivar. The results will be useful to maximize tomato productivity and reduce the occurrence of fruit physiological disorders in tomato production at plant factories.