Tolerance of tomato seedling cultivars to different values of irrigation water salinity

Abstract

The use of water with different salinity values in the production of vegetable seedlings is an issue of global concern; therefore, selecting tomato cultivars with tolerance to saline water is essential to improve the fruit quality and production. This study aimed to estimate the maximum electrical conductivity of irrigation water that does not harm the production of tomato seedlings and find cultivars with tolerance to the effects of salinity in this phase. In the first experiment, the treatments were arranged in a 3 × 8 factorial scheme (three tomato cultivars and eight values of electrical conductivity of irrigation water). The second experiment was arranged in a 10 × 3 factorial scheme (10 cultivars and three values of electrical conductivity of irrigation water). The 50% reduction in the root dry matter accumulation occurred with the electrical conductivity of irrigation water (ECw) of 2.31 dS m-1. The reduction of more than 50% of the Dickson quality index was observed with an ECw of 6.38 dS m-1. Irrigation with 3.0 dS m-1 impairs the complete emergence and growth of seedlings of all tomato cultivars. Coração de Boi, Dominador, Maestrina, Sheena, and Shanty were the tomato cultivars most tolerant to the irrigation water with 3.0 dS m-1 of ECw. The electrical conductivity of irrigation water higher than 2.31 dS m-1 impairs the root growth of tomato seedlings.

Watering Volume and Growing Design’s Effect on the Productivity and Quality of Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cerasiformae) Cultivar Ruby

“…The irrigation effect on processing tomatoes is complex; first, it increases the number of fruits per plant through the number of flowers and the percentage of fruit that is set, and then enlarges the size of fruits [40,41]. The number of fruits and fruit size of tomatoes are affected by water stress during different growing stages [42]. The improvement in yield as irrigation frequency increased in our experiment was mainly due to the increase in fruit number [43].…”

Tolerance and Adaptability of Tomato Genotypes to Saline Irrigation

“…The preparation of water with different levels of salinity was performed according to the equation: EC = 0.1676 + 2.0193 Q NaCl (R 2 = 0.999; p = 0.01). Where EC = electrical conductivity of the solution (dS m −1 ), and Q NaCl = amount of NaCl (g L −1 ) proposed by Oliveira et al [21].…”

“…The Euclidean distance and Ward's minimum variance method were performed using Action Stat Pro ® Software (version 3.5) for Windows (Estatcamp-Statistical Consulting, Campinas, SP, BRA). The 50% similarity value was used as standard for defining and separating salt stress tolerant groups of tomato genotypes as already used in common bean [24], soybean [25], and tomato genotypes [21].…”

Production of tomato seedlings submitted to treatments with foliar application of paclobutrazol

“…Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is among the most important vegetable produced in the world, which production in 2018 was approximately 182 million of tons in an area of 47.6 million of ha (FAO, 2020). The tomato's high productivity depends on the seedling quality, among other factors characterized by compact shoots and vigorous root systems that allow more tolerance against adverse weather conditions as high temperatures and excessive rainfalls (Oliveira et al, 2022). Seedling growth is controlled for genetic, environmental conditions, and applied agricultural practices.…”