The effect of far-red light on carbohydrate partitioning to dwarf tomato fruits

Fruit yield can be viewed as the product of total biomass production and harvest index (fraction partitioned to fruits). Within a vertical farm system, where dwarf tomato plants are grown determinately the fraction of total dry weight allocated to fruits is low. Carbohydrate partitioning is strongly affected by environmental factors. This research aims to explore and quantify the effect of far-red light on carbohydrate partitioning to fruits of different dwarf tomato genotypes.

The thesis could either focus on growth or molecular analysis based on the interest of the student.

Used skills

• Grow plants in a vertical farm system
• Measurements of plant growth and development
• Plant phenotyping (e.g. leaf area, internode length, pictures)
• Chlorophyll fluorescenceMolecular lab techniques (RNA extraction, cDNA syntesis, qPCR) (optional)
• HPLC, Enzyme assays
• Data analysis 

Interested in doing a BSc or MSc thesis at HPP? Please contact the HPP student coordinator Katharina Hanika.