Effect of Drought and Salinity Tensions on Germination and Seedling Growth of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)

A major problem of arid and semi-arid regions is environmental stresses like metal, salinity and drought. Limited water and hot dry climates frequently cause salinity problem that limit or prevent crop production. To study the effect of drought induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) and salinity induced by NaCl on tomato seed germination under different levels of treatment. PEG and NaCl were used for induction of drought and salinity stress and were compared to see their effects on seed germination, seedling growth and biomass production. Three different treatments of PEG (−0.40, -0.50 and-0.75MPa) and NaCl (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3M) with three replications were used on completely randomized design. Results showed that significant reduction in germination percentage, root/shoot length and biomass production. Seed germination reduced significantly with increasing concentration of PEG and NaCl. Similarly root/shoot length and biomass decreased with increasing concentration of PEG and NaCl. The growth parameters highly reduced with NaCl treatments as compared to PEG. NaCl shows more toxic effect as compare to PEG. In 0.3M of NaCl seeds could not be germinated. On the basis of the results of the present study it can be concluded that tomato was found to be very sensitive to drought and salinity.