SALINITY TOLERANCE IN TOMATO

Growth and fruiting of five cultivars of tomato viz., Tropic, pearson, Monte Carlo, ACE-55 and Strain B were studied at different salinity levels ranging between 34-272 mM NaCl. Reduction in growth at lower salinities (34 mM NaCl) was less in comparison to high salinity levels ( > 68 MM NaCl). Cv. Tropic produced the highest vegetative biomass under control condition but gave least reproductive yield in terms of fruit weight per plant. However, maximum fruit weight per plant was observed at 34 mM NaCl level. At moderate salinity level (68 mM NaCl), cv. ACE-55 produced the highest fruit weight though showing a reduction of about 65.91% as compared to control. Highest reproductive biomass was produced in cv. Tropical at 272 mM NaCl which was 25 times less than its control.