Figure 1. Tomato anther development and fruit yield under drought stress. (A) Soil moisture content (%) during the period watering was suspended to 5 days after re-watering (DARW). (B) Number of opened flowers/day during the stress period to 19 DARW. (C) Aborted flower buds at 3 specific stages of anther development from drought-stressed (DS) plants. Bud development stage was determined by staining with DAPI and measurement of bud length. TED, tetrad stage; EUM, early uninucleate microspore stage; VUM, vacuolated uninucleate microspore stage. (D) Flower abortion, fruit set and fruit yield of DS plants. Aborted flowers abscised at the abscission layer between the upper and lower pedicel after failure of fertilization. Fruits were harvested at maturity and weighed to determine the fruit yield in gram/plant. ABL, abscission layer.(E) Morphology of flowers and stamens 4 d after DS and rewatering (DS-ARW). Flowers were sampled after 4 d of DS (DS 4 d), between 9-11 DARW (type-3, red arrow indicates stigma exsertion); 10-12 DARW (type-2); 11-19 DARW (type-1). Values presented are means ± SD (n=3 biological replicates, 4 plants each); * p <0.05; **p <0.01; *** p < 0.001 (t-test).