Effect of abiotic stress (salinity) on the fruit quality of tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i> L)

Abstract

This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of salinity on the fruit quality of three varieties of tomato. The work was carried out at the nursery of the Federal College of Forestry Jos, Plateau State within the dry season between January and April, 2018 by irrigation. After the plants of the three varieties of tomato (Roma vf, Tima and UTC) had grown in their various bags for four weeks, four different salt concentrations including the control (0.00M, 0.05M, 0.08M and 0.10M) were added to the various bags accordingly. These treatment-combinations were replicated three times and laid out using the Randomized Block Design. The parameters assessed include number of fruits per plant, fresh weight of fruits at maturity, thickness of pericarp, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight and salt tolerance index. The data collected were subjected to Analysis of Variance and the means were separated using the Least Significant Difference. No significant differences (due to the effect of different salt concentrations) were observed in all the parameters studied except for pericarp thickness. There were significant differences (p≤0.05) due to variety in the number of fruits per plant, fresh weight of fruit and fruit pericarp. The study revealed that Tima variety had the best pericarp thickness of about 6.00 cm (fruit quality), highest number of fruits and heaviest fruits. Roma vf had the highest salt tolerance index (127.70%). A mild salt concentration (0.08M) improved the pericarp thickness.