After planting, five plants per treatment were sampled every 5
days before flowering and three plants per treatment were sampled
every 7 days after flowering to measure fresh weight of individual
fruit, leaf dry weight and leaf nitrogen content (NL). NL was determined
using the Kjeldahl method. Three additional plants in each
treatment were randomly selected for non-destructive measurements.
For these plants, the number of leaves, the length of leaf at
each node, the number of fruits appeared, aborted and harvested,
and the length of individual fruit at each node were measured every
3 days. Minimum threshold values used for leaf and fruit (length)
appearance measurements were 2 cm and 3 cm, respectively. Leaf
length was measured from leaf tip to the point of petiole intersection
along the midrib. A fruit was harvested when its length reached
at least 13 cm. Fruits were harvested every other day as done in
commercial greenhouses in China. Fresh weight of individual fruit
of each treatment at harvest was recorded.