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Abstract
Water availability is one of the principal environmental limitations of crop productivity throughout the world. The water deficits, which are a consequence of either continuous or transitory periods of drought, cause significant yield reductions on presently cultivated land, and greatly restrict the cultivation of crops on over one-third of the earth’s land surface considered to be arid or semiarid (25). These restrictions on yield potential are rapidly becom ing of great concern in the face of the food demands of an ever increasing world population. The problem becomes complicated further by the fact that supplies of suitable irrigation water are dwindling rapidly, and that the costs of irrigation are becoming prohibitive. As a result, studies on the effects of water stress on plant survival and yield are attracting added interest in plant science research.
Abstract
Salinity is a significant limiting factor to agricultural productivity, impacting about 9 × 108 ha of the land surface on the earth, an area about 3 times greater than all of the land that is presently irrigated (17, 18). Reduced productivity occurs as a result of decreased yields on land that is presently cultivated [about one-third of all irrigated land is considered to be affected by salt (18, 45)], as well as due to the restriction of significant agricultural expansion into areas that presently are not cultivated. In the United States, salinity is a major limiting factor to agricultural productivity, and as the quality of irrigation water continues to decline this problem will become more acute (1, 56). About 1.8 million ha of land are salt-affected in California (56), the major agricultural state in the nation. Annual losses to crop production in the salt-affected areas, including the Imperial, Coachella, and San Joaquin valleys, are substantial and are increasing at a significant rate each year (56).
Abstract
The fruit ripening behavior of the green ripe mutant (Gr) of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) was examined. Green ripe fruit are climacteric and evolve increasing amounts of ethylene after harvest; however, the time course for these events is dramatically altered in comparison with ‘Rutgers’. Maximal rates of C2H4 evolution from Gr fruit were achieved 20 days after the initial increase, and 7 to 10 days prior to maximal respiratory rates. Fruit age at harvest did not affect either the rate or the magnitude of these processes. Wavelength scans of pigment extracts from 60 day postharvest Gr fruit indicated low levels of carotenoids. Mutant fruit also remain firm a long time after harvest. Polygalacturonase activity in Gr fruit increases with fruit age, but reaches only 3% to 5% of the total activity in ‘Rutgers’. PG activity was only slightly reduced when extracts were heated to 65°C for 5 min, suggesting that a heat stable isoenzyme of PG is predominant in mature mutant fruit in contrast to ‘Rutgers’ in which 90% to 95% of PG activity in ripe fruit is heat labile under these conditions. When heterozygous, the Gr mutation is dominant in its effects on total PG activity and on the time course from the initiation of C2H4 and respiratory increases to their maximal rates of evolution. The magnitude of other changes in heterozygous mutant fruit was intermediate between normal and homozygous Gr.