THE EFFECT OF SALT STRESS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND FRUIT YIELD OF TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM MILL.) VARIETIES

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum mill.) is one of the most popular, important, and widely used vegetable crops as ranked number two vegetable in the world after potato. Tomato is an important cash-generating crop for smallholder farmers and employs in the production and processing industries in Ethiopia. The present study was conducted to assess germination, growth, physiological, and yield responses of 3 tomato varieties at Three different salinity levels. Evaluation of the varieties for salt tolerance was carried out in the laboratory and greenhouse in 2021. Each treatment was replicated three times and arranged in factorial arrangement. Germination percentage, germination Energy and Germination index, Relative Germination rate, Relative salt injury rate, plant height, fruit yield, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, root length, and shoot length were measured. All the traits showed a significant decrease (P<0.05).in 0.12,0.16,0.18 Nacl concentration The result revealed that the highest germination percentage (83%) was recorded from 0.12mM for the variety Melkashola while the lowest germination percentage (3%) was recorded from 0.18mM for the variety Miya. The highest shoot fresh weight (0.41g/plant) and the lowest root fresh weight was (0.31kg/ plant. The highest yield (0.2kg) was recorded at 0.12mM variety melkashola. Among the varieties, MelkaShola was found to be more salt tolerant.The results of laboratory and green house experiment showed that the variety melkashola produced the highest mean value in almost all of the traits considered at all level of salt concentrations,where as the remaining varities Fetan and Miya showed lower means almost in all of the traits considered.