Abstract
Research on silicon (Si), an element considered beneficial for plant growth, has focused on abiotic and biotic stress mitigation. However, the effect of Si on tomato fruit quality under normal growth conditions remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of applying different levels of Si (0 mmol·L−1 [CK], 0.6 mmol·L−1 [T1], 1.2 mmol·L−1 [T2], and 1.8 mmol·L−1 [T3]) in foliar sprays on tomato fruit quality cultivated in substrates, and the most beneficial Si level was found. Compared to CK, exogenous Si treatments had a positive influence on the appearance and nutritional quality of tomato fruits at the mature green, breaker, and red ripening stages. Of these, T2 treatment significantly increased peel firmness and single-fruit weight in tomato fruits. The contents of soluble sugars, soluble solids, soluble proteins, and vitamin C were significantly higher, and the nitrate content was significantly lower in the T2 treatment than in the CK treatment. Cluster analysis showed that T2 produced results that were significantly different from those of the CK, T1, and T3 treatments. During the red ripening stage, the a* values of fruits in the T2 treatment tomato were significantly higher than those in the other three treatments. Moreover, the lycopene and lutein contents of the T2 treatment increased by 12.90% and 17.14%, respectively, compared to CK. T2 treatment significantly upregulated the relative gene expression levels of the phytoene desaturase gene (PDS), the lycopene ε-cyclase gene (LCY-E), and the zeaxanthin cyclooxygenase gene (ZEP) in the carotenoid key genes. The total amino acid content in tomato fruits in the T2 treatment was also significantly higher than that of CK. In summary, foliar spraying of 1.2 mmol·L−1 exogenous Si was effective in improving the appearance and nutritional quality of tomato fruits under normal growth conditions. This study provides new approaches to further elucidate the application of exogenous silicon to improve tomato fruit quality under normal conditions.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Silicon treatments improved tomato fruit appearance and nutritional quality at three ripening stages.
- Taxon
- tomato
Solanum lycopersicume0 - Organ / stage
- mature green, breaker, and red ripening stagese0
- Treatment
- exogenous Si treatmentse0
- Outcome
- appearance and nutritional qualitye0
- Direction
- positive influencee0
- Comparator
- CKe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Compared to CK, exogenous Si treatments had a positive influence on the appearance and nutritional quality of tomato fruits at the mature green, breaker, and red ripening stages.”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 significantly increased fruit peel firmness and single-fruit weight.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- peel firmness and single-fruit weighte0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“T2 treatment significantly increased peel firmness and single-fruit weight in tomato fruits.”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 raised soluble sugars, soluble solids and soluble proteins relative to CK.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- contents of soluble sugars, soluble solids, soluble proteinse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- CK treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The contents of soluble sugars, soluble solids, soluble proteins, and vitamin C were significantly higher, and the nitrate content was significantly lower in the T2 treatment than in the CK treatment.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 raised vitamin C relative to CK.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- vitamin Ce0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- CK treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“vitamin C were significantly higher, and the nitrate content was significantly lower in the T2 treatment than in the CK treatment.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 lowered nitrate content relative to CK.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- nitrate contente0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Comparator
- CK treatmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the nitrate content was significantly lower in the T2 treatment than in the CK treatment.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
Cluster analysis distinguished T2 from CK, T1 and T3.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2e0
- Outcome
- resultse0
- Direction
- differente0
- Comparator
- CK, T1, and T3 treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Cluster analysis showed that T2 produced results that were significantly different from those of the CK, T1, and T3 treatments.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
At red ripening, T2 fruit a* values were higher than in three other treatments.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Organ / stage
- red ripening stagee0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- a* valuese0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- other three treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“During the red ripening stage, the a* values of fruits in the T2 treatment tomato were significantly higher than those in the other three treatments.”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 increased lycopene content by 12.90% relative to CK.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- lycopenee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 12.90%e0
- Comparator
- CKe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the lycopene and lutein contents of the T2 treatment increased by 12.90% and 17.14%, respectively, compared to CK.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 increased lutein content by 17.14% relative to CK.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- luteine0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 17.14%e0
- Comparator
- CKe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the lycopene and lutein contents of the T2 treatment increased by 12.90% and 17.14%, respectively, compared to CK.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 upregulated PDS, LCY-E and ZEP relative gene expression.
- Taxon
- TomatoSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Gene
- PDSe0
- Outcome
- relative gene expression levelse0
- Direction
- upregulatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“T2 treatment significantly upregulated the relative gene expression levels of the phytoene desaturase gene (PDS), the lycopene ε-cyclase gene (LCY-E), and the zeaxanthin cyclooxygenase gene (ZEP) in the carotenoid key genes.”
t0“Tomato”
Claim · model-written summary
T2 raised total amino acid content relative to CK.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- T2 treatmente0
- Outcome
- total amino acid contente0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- CKe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The total amino acid content in tomato fruits in the T2 treatment was also significantly higher than that of CK.”
The same questions in other papers
silicon atom · quality: grain · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.