Influence of rooting-medium temperature on growth of Lycopersicon esculentum

The influence of rooting-medium temperatures (maintained constant for 54 days from sowing) on tomato seedling growth was exerted primarily on development during the first 2 weeks after sowing, when an optimum emerged at 25 °C. This influence was attributable to an effect of temperature on the partitioning of dry matter between root and shoot during a few days before and after the start of photosynthesis. The adverse effect of suboptimal (but not supra-optimal) temperature was also associated with a reduction in the phosphorus content of the tissue, there being little effect on either nitrogen or potassium content.