MITIGATION OF DROUGHT STRESS IN TOMATO BY EXOGENOUS APPLICATION OF SALICYLIC ACID

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October 2015 to April 2016.The seeds of BARI Tomato-14 were used as planting material. The two factors experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The total treatment combinations were 12 (3×4). The experiment consisted of two factors: Factor A: Three levels of moisture percentage such as, W 1 : 100%, W 2 : 75% and W : 50% evapotranspiration moisture and Factor B: Four concentrations of salicylic acid as mitigating agent of drought stress S 3 : Control, S 1 : 50 ppm, S 2 : 75 ppm and S : 100 ppm respectively. The results of the experiment showed that, drought stress significantly influenced morphology, physiology, yield contributing characters and yield of tomato. The lowest plant height (96.7cm), SPAD value (35.2), and individual fruit weight (55.3 g) recorded at W 3 ; whereas the highest plant height (104.9 cm), SPAD value (43.6), and individual fruit weight (67.9 g) value recorded at W . The results also showed that, salicylic acid significantly increased the growth contributing characters as well as yield of tomato. The highest plant height 1 (105.1 cm), highest SPAD value (43.8), and individual fruit weight (62.6 g) recorded at S 2 and lowest from S . For combined effect, the tallest plant (110.0 cm), highest weight of individual fruit (69.0g), highest number of fruits plant 3 (2.3 kg) and highest fruit yield (97.9 t ha -1 -1 3 (36.8), highest fruit yield plant ) produced from W 1 S ; whereas the lowest from W 3 S 0 2 . This result suggests that, exogenous application of salicylic acid can effectively mitigate the deleterious effect of drought stress in tomato.