Effect of varieties and salinity on the growth and yield performance of tomato under greenhouse conditions in central Fiji

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted in 2022 at the Instructional Agricultural Farm Complex of the College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Fiji to determine the effect of different levels of salinity on the growth of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) varieties. The experiment included two factors: three tomato varieties (V1 = Melrose; V2 = Alton; V3 = Alafua Large) and four salinity levels (T1 = Control with no application of saline water; T2 = 2 dSm-1; T3 = 4 dSm-1 and T4 = 8 dSm-1) arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The effects of various varieties and salinity levels on tomato growth were studied in this experiment. Results revealed that variety significantly affected the growth of the tomato. Alafua Large recorded maximum plant height of 67.63 cm and 135.68 cm, number of leaves of 7.3 and 33.5 per plant, 0.64 cm, and 0.92 cm plant stem diameter, 3.67 primary branches per plant, 13.08 days flowering duration, 11.92 flower clusters per plant, 59.83 flowers per plant at 20 and 40 DAT respectively. The combined effect of variety and the salt concentration of Alafua Large also showed a better growth performance than other varieties. Alafua Large also showed better yield (432.17 g and 394.51 g) per plant compared to other varieties when combined with lower salinity levels i.e., EC 2 dSm-1 and 4 dSm-1, respectively (P less than 0.05). The yield per plant of Alafua Large yielded 194.54 g when applied at the highest level of salinity i.e., EC 8 dSm-1, and the yield of Alton was 64.69 g which was the lowest yield among the varieties with the highest level of salinity condition. Alafua Large performed better than all other varieties and recorded higher growth parameters and yield at higher salinity levels.