Abstract
Salinity is a major constraint in crop production in saline prone areas of Bangladesh. Therefore, a study was carried out in order to investigate the effect of different levels of NaCl salinity stress on seed germination and seedling growth of tomato. This study was consisted with five varieties of tomato (BARI Tomato-2, BARI Tomato-3, BARI Tomato-4, BARI Tomato-14, and BARI Tomato-15) and four levels of NaCl salt solution (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM). Seeds were placed in petridish for germination and the seedlings were allowed to grow for ten days. Results showed that percent seed germination decreased with increasing salt concentration in the germinating media. The highest seed germination (68.25%) was recorded in untreated control (0 mM) condition and the lowest in 150 mM salt solution ((5.92%). In combination of variety and salt concentration, BARI Tomato-2 gave the highest germination (88.33%) under 0 mM salinity condition and the lowest (2.92%) in BARI Tomato-3 with 150 mM salt solution. However, percent germination, germination coefficient, radicle and plumule length, seedling vigor index, fresh weight of plumule and radicle, mean germination time, germination index decreased with increasing salt concentration as compared to untreated control condition. The findings indicated that BARI Tomato- 2, BARI Tomato-4 and BARI Tomato-15 were relatively tolerant to salt stress than BARI Tomato-3 and BARI Tomato-14.
 
 J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(4): 490–499, 2019
Highlights
Salinity is one of the most critical abiotic stress factor for limiting crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world (Buchanan et al, 2005; Munns and Tester, 2008; Ahmed, 2009, Horie et al, 2012; Tu et al, 2014; Yang and Guo, 2018)
At 10 DAS, the maximum seedling vigor index (537.09%) was noticed in Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Tomato-2 followed by BARI Tomato-4 (259.03%), BARI Tomato-15 (206.40%), BARI Tomato-14 (168.39%) and the minimum was observed in BARI Tomato-3 (121.30%) (Table 2)
Five varieties of tomato were evaluated against four levels of NaCl salinity stress
Summary
Salinity is one of the most critical abiotic stress factor for limiting crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world (Buchanan et al, 2005; Munns and Tester, 2008; Ahmed, 2009, Horie et al, 2012; Tu et al, 2014; Yang and Guo, 2018). 900 million hectares of land approximately 20% of the total agricultural land are affected by salt (FAO, 2007) and this amount is supposed to be increase due to climate change (Shabala, 2013; Suzuki et al, 2016). Plants have some mechanisms to cope with salinity stress at the biochemical and molecular levels (Zhu, 2002; Shinozaki et al, 2005; Hauser and Horie, 2010). Despite the importance of seed germination under salt stress and the mechanism(s) of salt tolerance in seeds is poorly understood. Hossain and Nonami (2012) noticed that the reduction of growth coincided with the reduction of water potential in fruit tissue due to salt stress The different results were detected from the effect of salinity stress on the quantitative and qualitative parameters. Ashraf and Khanam (1997) reported that salinity treatment led to reduction of growth and plant developments. Hossain and Nonami (2012) noticed that the reduction of growth coincided with the reduction of water potential in fruit tissue due to salt stress
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
