Assessment of Growth, Yield, and Nutrient Uptake of Mediterranean Tomato Landraces in Response to Salinity Stress

Abstract

Salinity is a major stress factor that compromises vegetable production in semi-arid climates such as the Mediterranean. The accumulation of salts in the soil can be attributed to limited water availability, which can be exacerbated by changes in rainfall patterns and rising temperatures. These factors can alter soil moisture levels and evaporation rates, ultimately leading to an increase in soil salinity, and, concomitantly, the extent to which crop yield is affected by salinity stress is considered cultivar-dependent. In contrast to tomato hybrids, tomato landraces often exhibit greater genetic diversity and resilience to environmental stresses, constituting valuable resources for breeding programs seeking to introduce new tolerance mechanisms. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effects of mild salinity stress on the growth, yield, and nutritional status of sixteen Mediterranean tomato landraces of all size types that had been pre-selected as salinity tolerant in previous screening trials. The experiment was carried out in the greenhouse facilities of the Laboratory of Vegetable Production at the Agricultural University of Athens. To induce salinity stress, plants were grown hydroponically and irrigated with a nutrient solution containing NaCl at a concentration that could maintain the NaCl level in the root zone at 30 mM, while the non-salt-treated plants were irrigated with a nutrient solution containing 0.5 mM NaCl. Various plant growth parameters, including dry matter content and fruit yield (measured by the number and weight of fruits per plant), were evaluated to assess the impact of salinity stress. In addition, the nutritional status of the plants was assessed by determining the concentrations of macro- and micronutrients in the leaves, roots, and fruit of the plants. The key results of this study reveal that cherry-type tomato landraces exhibit the highest tolerance to salinity stress, as the landraces ‘Cherry-INRAE (1)’, ‘Cherry-INRAE (3)’, and ‘Cherry-INRAE (4)’ did not experience a decrease in yield when exposed to salinity stress. However, larger landraces such as ‘de Ramellet’ also exhibit mechanisms conferring tolerance to salinity, as their yield was not compromised by the stress applied. The identified tolerant and resistant varieties could potentially be used in breeding programs to develop new varieties and hybrids that are better adapted to salinity-affected environments. The identification and utilization of tomato varieties that are adapted to salinity stress is an important strategy for promoting agriculture sustainability, particularly in semi-arid regions where salinity stress is a major challenge.

Assessing Salinity Tolerance and Fruit Quality of Pepper Landraces

“…Significant differences in K concentration were evident in both leaves and fruits among the tested cultivars as a result of the different K uptake and accumulation levels of these cultivars. However, the interaction between salinity and variety showed no significant effects on the aforementioned plant parts, consistent with the finding of Ntanasi et al [1] for tomato landraces subjected to the same stress.…”

“…Salinity refers to the increased salt content in soil or growing media [1], which creates a challenging growth environment for plant growth resulting in reduced yield and product quality [2]. This is ascribed to the disturbance in the balance of water uptake by plant roots, leading to osmotic stress conditions [3,4].…”

State of the Art and New Technologies to Recycle the Fertigation Effluents in Closed Soilless Cropping Systems Aiming to Maximise Water and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Greenhouse Crops

“…Managing plant mineral nutrition by providing SS with optimal composition is a big challenge in CLSs, as the composition of the DS, which is a constituent of the SS, can vary with time due to temporal variations in nutrient uptake rates. Fluctuations in UCs have been observed not only between different plant species but also in the same species between different cultivars [10,35] or under different climatic conditions [36] or stress conditions, such as salinity stress due to Na + accumulation [35]. To address the challenges associated with maintaining optimal nutrient supply to crops in the CLSs despite the unpredictable variations in the composition of the DS, two alternative concepts can be deployed.…”

Identification and Evaluation of Celery Germplasm Resources for Salt Tolerance

“…Currently, standards and methods for salt tolerance identification have been established, and several salt-tolerant germplasm resources have been screened in vegetable crops, such as tomato [12], cucumber [13], pepper [14], and eggplant [15]. Li et al [13] analyzed the phenotypic and physiological indices of 18 cucumber germplasm resources under salt treatment and identified six salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive cucumber germplasms based on a comprehensive evaluation of phenotype, integrated viability, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis.…”