Abstract
The effect of supplemental potash and its sources on the growth and yield of tomato crop grown in salinity stress condition was studied during the year 2012 and 2013. The tomato plants were irrigated with 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl saline solutions. Supplemental potash was applied from two sources (SOP and MOP) and evaluated against control (no potash supplement). The maximum fresh weight of roots (8.97 g) and shoot (217.4 g), dry weight of roots (3.11 g) and shoot (46.35 g), shoot/root ratio (24.56), number of leaves/plant (110) and yield (7.32 t. h) were recorded in control plants. In contrast, the minimum root and shoot fresh weight (3.63 and 69.71 g respectively), root and shoot dry weight (0.76 and 11.55 g respectively), shoot/root ratio (18.46), number of leaves/plant (52) and yield 1.15 t. h, were recorded for the treatment with 200 mM NaCl. Application of supplemental potash and its sources significantly affected the salinity induced changes in tomato plants. The SOP source of potassium resulted in the highest fresh root and shoot weights (6.74 g,158.5 g respectively), dry weight of root (2.17 g) and shoot (32.11 g), shoot root/ratio (23.23), number of leaves per plant (88.4) and yield 4.60 t.ha. The interaction of salinity and supplemental potash also significantly affected the number of leaves per plant and yield. The highest number of leaves per plant (109) and yield (7.56 t.ha) in control plants, declined with increasing salinity to the minimum of 41 and 0.42 t.ha with 200 mM NaCl + no supplemental potash. Both the potash sources at all levels of salinity had relatively higher number of leaves per plant and yield as compared no supplemental potash treatment. However, at each level of salinity, SOP as potash source resulted in higher number of leaves and yield as
Highlights
The root fresh weight in control plants (4.93 g) increased significantly to 5.73 g and 6.74 g when supplemental potash was applied from muriate of potash (MOP) and sulphate of potash (SOP) sources respectively (Table 1)
The fresh weight of non stressed tomato plants (0 mM NaCl) was the maximum (217.4 g), which declined with increasing salinity levels to the minimum of 69.71 g in plant exposed to 200 mM NaCl stress
It is concluded from this study that salinity decreased the growth such as root and shoots fresh weight; root and shoot dry weight, number of leaves per plant, shoot/root ratio and yield of tomato
Summary
Another approach to minimize the harmful effect of salinity is the use of foliar feeding of nutrients for increasing plant salinity tolerance by alleviating Na+ and Cl- injury to plants [3]. Materials and methods The experiment was conducted during the year 2012 and 2013 at the Centre of Plant Biodiversity and Botanical Garden, University of Peshawar, Azakhel, Nowshera, KP In this experiment the overall affect of supplemental potassium (SOP and MOP) in saline condition was studied on vegetative growth of shoot and root (fresh weight, dry weight, shoot root ratio, number of leaves) and yield. The experiment was conducted according to two factorial randomize complete block design (RCBD) having five salinity levels and two potassium sources. Experimental procedure The effect of supplemental potassium on tomato growth and physiological changes was investigated by exposing tomato plants to 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl and application of 220 kg/ha supplemental potash from two sources i.e. Murate of Potash (MOP), Sulfate of Potash (SOP) and control (no Potash) along with a basal dose of N 120 and P2O5 80 kg/ha as urea and triple super phosphate, respectively. The means were separated by the least significant difference (LSD) using MSTATC (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
