Salinity tolerance in tomato: Implications of potassium, calcium, and phosphorus

Abstract

The effect of salinity on the growth and yield of tomato plants and mineral composition of tomato leaves was studied. Five tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) cultivars, Pearson, Strain B, Montecarlo, Tropic, and Marikit, were grown in sand nutrient culture. The nutrient solutions applied consisted of a modified half-strength Hoagland solution with 50 mM sodium chloride (NaCl), 3 mM potassium sulphate (K 2 SO 4 ), 1.5 mM orthophosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ), and 10 mM calcium sulphate (CaSO4). Stem height and number of leaves of tomato plants were not found to be significantly different but leaf and stem dry weight were reduced significantly in plants irrigated with saline nutrient solution in contrast with control plants. The total yield was reduced in plants that received saline treatments, but there was no significant difference in fruit number and fruit set percentage. The fruit electrical conductivity and total soluble solids were increased in plants irrigated with saline nutrient solution. Fruit pH was not found to be significantly different among salinity treatments. Mineral composition of tomato leaves were increased by addition of potassium (K), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca) to the saline nutrient solution. The addition of K to the solution resulted in an increase in sodium (Na) leaf content. The amounts of K and magnesium (Mg) were not significantly different among salinity treatments. Calcium content was increased when CaSO 4 was added. Application of H 3 PO 4 resulted in the highest amount of P in tomato leaves under saline conditions. The present study revealed that application of K, P, and Ca

Calcium induces salinity tolerance in pistachio rootstocks

“…When compared with control values, addition of CaSO 4 had a relatively modest effect on reducing Na elevation, but, obviously, this reduction is sufficient to significantly restore the key growth to levels approaching those for unstressed plants (table IV). These data are in agreement with those produced by other authors for other crop species; for example, tomato [36], rice [37] and plum [38].…”

Ameliorative Effect of Foliar Nutrient Supply on Growth, Inorganic Ions, Membrane Permeability, and Leaf Relative Water Content of Physalis Plants under Salinity Stress

“…The results presented here are also in partial agreement with the results of Martinez and Cerda (1999), who worked with cucumber and applied supplementary N alone, and with Satti and Lopez (1994), who studied on tomato and applied supplementary K alone to the salt-stressed crops. These are also in accordance with the previous findings of Kaya et al (2001) for strawberry, Kaya, Ak, and Higgs (2003) for cucumber, Bar-Tal, Fergenbaun, and Sparks (1991) for corn, Adams Downloaded by [New York University] at 10:57 14 June 2015 (1988) and Satti and Al-Yahyi (1995) for tomato, and Leidi and Saiz (1997) for cotton. The adverse effect of high NaCl on chlorophyll concentration previously has been shown for rice (Yeo et al 1990, Alpaslan et al 1998, barley (Belkhodja et al 1994), wheat (Alpaslan et al 1998), tomato (Kaya, Kirnak, and Higgs 2001), and cucumber (Yildirim, Turan, and Guvenc 2008).…”

Sodium-potassium interaction on growth, yield and quality of tomato in ultisol

“…This result was in line with the report of Satti and Al-Yahyai (1995), who noted that the citric acid content of tomato fruit generally decreased at high Na and K in the growth medium. In this study, the interaction of 4 mg Na kg…”