Effects of different nitrogen supply and pruning methods on the fruit yield and nitrogen nutrition of greenhouse cherry tomato

A greenhouse experiment of cherry tomato（Lesculentum var. cerasiforme Alef） was conducted to investigate the effects of different N supply and pruning methods on fruit yield and nitrogen nutrition after decapitating. The results showed that, optimized pruning method (Po) with adequate N supply significantly increased fruit yield and individual fruit weight of cherry tomato compared with conventional pruning method (Pc). However, optimum and excessive N supply increased fruit yield by 49% and 27%, respectively, and increased individual fruit weight by 20% and 25%, respectively. Further analysis indicated that optimized pruning method could promote the proportion of dry matter accumulated in fruit and sink activity through increasing leaf N content. All these results indicated that the optimized pruning method with optimum N application rate could further improve fruit yield through adjusting the relationship of source and sink after decapitating.