Abstract: Abstract：Effect of synchronous leaf pruning on production and distribution of dry matter in greenhouse tomato cultivar ‘Capita’ was investigated by both a TOMSIM simulation and a greenhouse experiment. The results indicated that the values between simulation study and greenhouse experiment were fitted very well. With synchronous leaf pruning, on one hand, LAI and growth rate were significantly decreased, which resulted in a significant reduction in total plant dry weight per square meter; on the other hand, the vegetative sink strength was decreased and the distribution of dry matter allocated to generative sinks was favored, which resulted in a significant increment in the cumulative fraction of dry matter allocated to the fruits and compensated for the reduction in fruit dry weight resulted from that in total plant dry weight per square meter. Plant density has no significant influence on the cumulative fraction of dry matter allocated to the fruits. LAI was increased by increased plant density. Fruit dry weight per square meter was significantly improved in leaf pruning & increased plant density.

Key words: Greenhouse tomato, synchronous leaf pruning, TOMSIM