Department of Botany Lucknow University, Lucknow 226 007
Tomato cv. Pusa Ruby was grown till maturity in refined sand at 0.025 (acutely deficient), 1 (moderately deficient) and 4 mM Ca (adequate) supply. Deficiency of Ca depressed the growth and produced visible effects in tomato at 68 days. Besides this, low Ca reduced the biomass, fruit yield, concentration of Ca and chlorophyll and activities of peroxidase, α-amylase, ATPase and invertase and stimulated the accumulation of sugars, starch, phenols and nitrate nitrogen contents in young leaves. The fruits of Ca deficient tomato were not only malformed but quality also deteriorated. The volume, colour, fresh and dry weight, pulp weight, lycopene and water contents, titrat-able acidity, ascorbic acid and activities of ATPase, invertase and α-amylase of fruits decreased considerably along with an accumulation of sugars, starch and phenols.
