Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Li, Tongyin

Committee Member

Bi, Guihong

Committee Member

Cox, Michael S.

Committee Member

Harkess, Richard L.

Date of Degree

12-9-2022

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Horticulture

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Plant and Soil Sciences

Abstract

Sustainable practices were evaluated for the production of two warm season vegetable crops, tomato and chile peppers. The first study investigated the plant vegetative growth, fruit production timing, yield components and fruit quality of three hybrid and three heirloom tomato cultivars grown in a high tunnel using grafted and non-grafted plants. Grafting the selected tomato cultivars with the two rootstock types did not alter total marketable yield of any cultivar, but affected overall stem diameter, fruit color, and β-carotene concentrations of tested tomato cultivars. The second study evaluated the plant growth, yield, and fruit quality of nine heirloom chile pepper cultivars treated with three types of biostimulants during 2020 and 2021. Biostimulant application did not affect marketable yield in 2020 or 2021, but enhanced fruit quality including fruit length, diameter, and green coloration.

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