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Causal Agent:
Environmental
Distribution:
Worldwide
Symptoms:
Catface: Typical symptoms of this disorder are misshapen fruit
with scarred areas and lines that often radiate from the blossom-end of
the fruit. This disorder is especially important on large-fruited
tomatoes and the severity is variety dependent.
Cracking: Two types of cracking occur on the fruit: 1) radial
cracking is a splitting of the epidermis that radiates from the calyx
end to the blossom-end of the fruit. 2) concentric cracking is a
splitting of the epidermis in circular patterns around the calyx end of
the fruit. Cracking usually does not occur until the fruit have reached
maturity.
Conditions for Disease Development:
Catface: Abnormally cold weather during flowering is known to
enhance this disorder. Also, high soil nitrogen levels and any
disturbance to the flower parts during anthesis can increase
catfacing.
Cracking: Susceptibility to cracking is related to the strength
and stretching ability of the fruit's epidermis. Periods of slow fruit
growth followed by fast growth resulting from wide differences in day
and night temperatures and a dry period followed by heavy rain or
irrigation are conducive to this disorder.
Control:
The best way to reduce losses from these disorders is to use tolerant
varieties. Proper irrigation and nutritional management, and temperature
management in greenhouses can also reduce losses.
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