Do the geographic location and environmental conditions affect dwarf tomato plant culture grown in greenhouses and other protected structures of various types?

The problem of providing climatically harsh regions, including the Arctic and Antarctic, with fresh, high-quality plant production as a natural source of vitamins and other useful substances in an accessible form requires an innovative solution. The solution may be the creation of highly efficient, resource-saving, scalable systems with environmentally friendly and low-waste technologies for growing adapted crops. In this work, we have for the first time identified the influence of geographic location and environmental conditions of the highlands, where the Antarctic station Vostok is located, on the dwarf forms of tomatoes growth, development, productivity and quality of fruits. The plasticity of tomato is shown, which was expressed in obtaining similar yields due to changes in the number and weight of fruits when plants grown in phytotechnological complexes-greenhouses-1 in different geographical locations: at the Vostok station under conditions of hypobaric hypoxia and at the agrobiological testing ground of the Agrophysical Research Institute (AFI, St. Petersburg). The Vostok stations conditions generally did not have a significant effect on the tomato fruits quality and their elemental composition. It was shown that the implementation of the plant`s production potential was reliably higher in the controlled conditions of the phytotechnological complexes-greenhouses-1 in comparison with that in greenhouses with uncontrolled conditions of the light and air environment. The aim of the work is to evaluate the production potential of tomato dwarf forms in cultivation systems of the different types at the Antarctic station Vostok and in the European part of the Eurasian continent. Research was carried out during 2021-2023 in a residential building with an area of 12 m2 at the Antarctic station Vostok, at a specialized agrobiopolygon of the AFI (St. Petersburg) for growing plants under controlled conditions, in polycarbonate greenhouses with uncontrolled light and air environments conditions of the Federal Research Center Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR, Pushkin-St. Petersburg) and the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing (FSC for Vegetable Growing, Moscow Province). The object was tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum L. var. lycopersicum varieties Natasha and Timosha bred by the Federal Scientific Center of Vegetable Growing. The plants are superdeterminate, with dwarfing genes, do not require pinching. In the phytotechnological complex-greenhouse-1 at the Vostok station and at the agrobiopolygon of the AFI, the original AFI technology of plant cultivation on a thin-layer analogue of soils (thin-layer panoponics) was implemented. Along with thin-layer panoponics, in the phytotechcomplex-greenhouse-1 at the agrobiopolygon, a small-volume panoponics technology was used according to which a small volume (2 l/plant) of substrate based on low-decomposed high-moor peat placed on the surface of a hydrophilic material was present in the zone of seed germination and root growth. In the polycarbonate greenhouse of the VIR, tomato plants were grown in ridges of the peat substrate Agrobalt С. The substrate volume was 14 l/plant. In the polycarbonate greenhouse of the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing, tomato plants were grown on a five-tier narrow-rack hydroponic MUG installation. Peat substrate Agrobalt C (1 l/plant) was a root inhabited environment. Phenological observations were carried out throughout the growing seasons. During harvesting, the height of the plants and productivity indicators (weight of 1 fruit, total number of fruits on a plant per year, total weight of fruits on a plant per year) were accounted. The yield of tomato fruits (kg/m2 per year) was calculated based on the obtained data. Biochemical analysis of fruits was performed. Operation of the phytotechnological complex-greenhouse-1 with the thin-layer panoponics technology implemented in it atthe Vostok station demonstrated its high efficiency in the production of high-quality and safe plant products and psychological significance for polar explorers. Tomato plants of two dwarf varieties, grown in phytotechnological complexes, formed smaller fruits at the Vostok station under hypobaric hypoxia conditions, but in significantly greater number than at the AFI agrobiopolygon with optimized controlled conditions of the plant habitat. There were no reliable differences in the plant yield per unit area per year and in as in the fruit quality. The adaptation of tomato plants at the Vostok station may be related to the potential resistance of the tomato crop to high-altitude conditions due to its geographical origin. As compared to greenhouses, phytotechnological complexes provided more complete regulation of the environment, which had a significant beneficial effect on the plants state and the realization of their genetically determined production potential.