Foliar Application of Salicylic Acid on Growth and Yield Components of Tomato Plant Grown under Salt Stress

Abstract

Abiotic environmental stresses such as drought stress, mineral deficiency, heat stress, and salinity stress are major limiting factors of plant growth and productivity. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), one of the important and widespread crops in the world, is sensitive to moderate levels of salt in the soil. So many authors have reported large variation among tomato genotypes in their response to salinity. The present study was conducted to study the effect of different concentrations of salicylic acid on growth parameters, yield, and yield attributes of tomato under saline conditions. Tomato plants cv. Marmande were grown under normal or saline (100 mM NaCl) conditions. Different levels of salicylic acid: SA (0, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mM) were applied as a foliar spray. The study was conducted at the vegetative and reproductive stage. Salt stress reduced significantly the whole plant growth at the two stages. Application of SA caused a significantly increase in biomass under non-saline conditions. However, in salt medium, treatment of leaves by SA induces a slight increase in biomass, leaf area and ameliorates the fruit diameter compared with plant grown only in the presence of salt. The beneficial effect of SA is more pronounced with the dose 0.01 mM.