Performance of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) lines and cultivars resistant to salinity

Abstract

The low yield of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicon, L.) along the coast of Tanzania is influenced by abiotic stresses, including salinity. Tomatoes in Tanzania are produced in various environments, from wet lowlands to dry highlands. Lowland areas are generally warmer than the highlands and have more saline soils. Two commercially available Tanya and Tengeru 97’ tomato cultivars and seventeen advanced lines from the World Vegetable Research Center in Arusha have been developed for tolerance to biotic stresses. This study tested the advanced lines and commercially available cultivars (Tanya and Tengeru 97’) for salinity tolerance to expand their potential utilization in marginal areas. The experiment included two factors; tomato cultivars/lines and level of salinity replicated three times in a Completely Randomized Design. Varying salinity levels (45mM, 90mM and 150mM NaCl) were applied to study their effects on growth. There were significant differences (p<0.05) due to the effect of different salt concentrations in the parameters studied. Increased salinity delayed and reduced seed germination, which varied among cultivars/ lines. Seedling growth in terms of height increased with time but decreased with salinity, except in the CLN series, where only very slight decreases in height were observed. The stem and leaf growth were negatively correlated with increasing salinity levels in Tanya and Tengeru. CLN series were also found to yield reasonably in terms of fruit number and size at all salinity levels, especially CLN 5915-93-D4-1-0-3. From the results, it could be concluded that CLN lines could increase tomato growth and production on salt affected soils.