Salinity tolerance of tomato germplasm during germination

The Lycopersicon peruvianum (EC-251672, EC-251706 and EC-257749) accessions were found tolerant to salt salinity up to 10.208ds/m with better germination and plumule/radicle growth, where as other accessions screened in the present investigation could show better results only up to 4.95ds/m. In all the germplasm the seedling characteristics reduced considerably at 16.038ds/m and 20.768ds/m. The results of this study indicate the existence of genetic potential for salt tolerance in wild Lycopersicon germplasm. The preliminary investigation under this study revealed that out of germination and their seedling traits, any one character exclusively can not become a selection criteria rather germination along with plumule/radicle growth can be combined to get a possible generalization under salt stress in tomato at seedling stage.