Mitigation the adverse effect of salinity stress on the performance of the tomato crop by exogenous application of chitosan

Abstract

The data revealed that various application of salinity had a negative effect on almost all the studied parameters. Tomato plants treated with distilled water having no salinity (control) recorded maximum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), fruit juice pH, yield plant−1 (kg) and minimum total soluble solids (Brix°). Whereas, minimum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), fruit juice pH, yield plant−1 (kg) and maximum total soluble solids (Brix°) were found in plants treated with salinity level of 150 mM. Chitosan concentration of 150 mg L−1 significantly mediated the effect of salinity stress and recorded maximum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), total soluble solids (Brix°) and yield plant−1 (kg) with minimum fruit juice pH.