Effects of Salinity Stress on Growth, Yield, Fruit Quality and Water Use Efficiency of Tomato Under Hydroponics System (original) (raw)

Reviews in Agricultural Science

REVIEWS Introduction Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most important vegetable plants in the world. Global production is estimated at 163.96 million metric tons, with China and India as the leading producers in 2013 (Faostat, 2015). Tomato is consumed fresh, cooked or after processing; canning process also transforms tomato into juice, pulp, paste, or a variety of sauces (Cuartero and Fernandez, 1999). Soilless cultivation is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil, is supported by using inter medium such as perlite, rockwool, clay pellets, peat moss, or vermiculite instead of the root system (Fan et al., 2012). Meric et al. (2011) reported that soilless cultivation is widely used in order to improve the control of the growing environment and avoid uncertainties in the water and nutrient status of the soil. It also overcomes the cumulation of salinity, pests and diseases (Fan et al., 2012) and minimizes environmental contamination stemming from fertigation runoff (Savvas, 2002; Rouphael et al., 2006). This technique (Fig.1) also aids in saving irrigation water and fertilizers, thereby appreciably increasing the water use efficiency by the crop (Schwarz et al., 1996; Zekki et al., 1996). Salinity stress limits the productivity of agricultural crops, with adverse effects on germination, plant vigor and crop yield (Munns and Tester, 2008). Many studies report that tomato plants exposed to high concentrations of salt in their root zone cause the reduction of growth, fruit size and fruit yield (