Review on the ecophysiology of important Andean fruits: Solanaceae

Abstract

The high Andean areas present ecophysiological conditions suitable for the cultivation of many fruit species, especially of the Solanaceae family. The objective of this review is to present important ecophysiological information on four fruit trees grown in cold climates: Cape gooseberry, tree tomato, lulo, and sweet cucumber o pear melon. The cape gooseberry is a species well adapted to cold tropical climate, it is grown between 1,800 and 2,700m a.s.l., with temperatures of 13 to 16°C. It is highly adapted to high solar radiation and to the abrupt changes between the day and night temperatures. It requires a precipitation of 1,000 to 1,800mm year-1 uniformly distributed throughout the year, and is sensitive to water defi cit but also to waterlogging and strong winds. The tree tomato, in Colombia, produces better from 1,800 to 2,600m a.s.l., with temperatures between 13 and 20°C, annual rainfall between 1,500 and 2,000mm, relative humidity around 80%, and solar brightness of 1,800 to 2,300 hours/year; it does not resist strong winds, water defi cit or waterlogging. The lulo requires environments with high precipitation (1,000 to 2,800mm) and penumbra because it loses a lot of water through transpiration but waterlogging also affects it; it grows well in areas between 1,600 to 2,400m a.s.l. and 16 to 24°C, with photosynthesis rates up to of 34.03μmol CO2 m-2 s-1. The sweet cucumber is of growing interest in many exotic fruit markets, it grows at 900-2,800m a.s.l. with temperatures <25°C and responds well to air enrichment with CO2.