Mitigation the adverse effect of salinity stress on the performance of the tomato crop by exogenous application of chitosan

Abstract

Background In recent years, ecofriendly compounds such as chitosan has been used to alleviate the destructive effects of salt stress. Chitosan is a natural biodegradable compound with no toxicity in nature and act as a stress tolerance inductor involved in physiological processes and prevent water loss through transpiration. Tomato cv. Rio Grande grown in pots was subjected with salinity stress in the form of 4 levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM) whose effect was mediated by treating it with different concentration of chitosan (0, 50, 100 and 150 mg L−1). Results The data revealed that various application of salinity had a negative effect on almost all the studied parameters. Tomato plants treated with distilled water having no salinity (control) recorded maximum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), fruit juice pH, yield plant−1 (kg) and minimum total soluble solids (Brix°). Whereas, minimum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), fruit juice pH, yield plant−1 (kg) and maximum total soluble solids (Brix°) were found in plants treated with salinity level of 150 mM. Chitosan concentration of 150 mg L−1 significantly mediated the effect of salinity stress and recorded maximum plant height (cm), average number of compound leaves plant−1, leaf area (cm2), stem diameter (mm), number of fruits plant−1, fruit firmness (kg cm−2), leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD), total soluble solids (Brix°) and yield plant−1 (kg) with minimum fruit juice pH. Conclusion It is concluded that foliar application of chitosan at the rate of 150 mg L−1 and salinity stress 150 mM could have positive impact on performance of tomato.

Chitosan, chitosan nanoparticles and modified chitosan biomaterials, a potential tool to combat salinity stress in plants

“…The chlorophyll content was substantially reduced with increasing salinity levels. However, when 150 mg L − 1 Cs was treated under 2922, 5844 and 8766 mg L − 1 of salinity stress showed dose dependent decrease in chlorophyll content (higher the salt stress, lower the chlorophyll content) (Ullah et al, 2020). In Arabian lilac, there was also a similar trend recorded as tomato.…”

“…Fruit firmness and fruit juice were also affected by salinity stress in tomato plants, valued 2.78 kg − 2 and 4.93 of pH, respectively. However, Cs application under salt stress increased the fruit firmness up to 29.5% and fruit juice up to 4.7% compared to salt stressed plants (Ullah et al, 2020). Overall, growth parameters such as plant height, root length, number of leaves, stem diameter, fruit quality etc., were reversed upon Cs application during salinity stress.…”

“…Chitosan (Cs) has a wide application scope in various biological fields including agriculture, thanks to its amine and -OH groups which make it with nucleophilic behavior and easily available for various chemical reaction (Rabêlo et al, 2019). The application of Cs in the right manner and concentration can effectively reduce the harmful effects of high salinity levels and increase plant growth and/or the yields (Safikhan et al, 2018), as it reported on maize (Turk, 2019), mung bean (Sen & Mandal, 2016), rice (Garude, Vemula, & SRM, 2019), safflower (Golkar, Taghizadeh, & Yousefian, 2019), stevia (Gerami et al, 2020), sunflower (Bakhoum, Sadak, & Badr, 2020), and tomato Ullah et al, 2020) plants. Those studies also showed that Cs under saline stress alleviated effect at gene expression level as well as in biochemical level.…”

“…Those studies also showed that Cs under saline stress alleviated effect at gene expression level as well as in biochemical level. Additionally, usage of Cs is preferred due to several properties such as antioxidant (Jabeen & Ahmad, 2013;Safikhan et al, 2018), anti-microbial (Gerami et al, 2020), biodegradable (Ullah et al, 2020), bioactive (Bakhoum et al, 2020;Turk, 2019), biocompatible (Hassan et al, 2021;Safikhan et al, 2018), water-soluble (Golkar et al, 2019) and non-toxic (Sen et al, 2020;Zayed et al, 2017). They can be applied through foliar spray or soil application to induce stress tolerance and improve plant performance by activating several stress-related enzymes.…”

Impact of Foliar Application of Chitosan Dissolved in Different Organic Acids on Isozymes, Protein Patterns and Physio-Biochemical Characteristics of Tomato Grown under Salinity Stress

“…Recently, several researchers demonstrated the stimulating effect of chitosan against abiotic stress on tomato plants [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Moreover, [ 29 ] reported that foliar application of chitosan ameliorates the negative impact of salinity on tomato plants through enhancing growth aspects and photosynthetic pigments.…”