Salinity and Variety Effects on Yield, Yield Attributes and Soil of Tomato under Greenhouse Conditions of Central Fiji

Abstract

Background: Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is a widely cultivated vegetable crop worldwide, including in Fiji. However, the suitability of tomato cultivation under greenhouse conditions in the central region of Fiji, which experiences salinity issues, remains unclear. Methods: A pot experiment was conducted 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 and yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) varieties. The experiment included two factors: three tomato varieties (V1= Melrose; V2= Alton; V3= Alafua Large) and four levels of NaCl salinity (T1= Control; T2= 2 dSm-1; T3= 4 dSm-1 and T4= 8 dSm-1) randomized thrice in a randomized complete block design. The effects of various varieties and salinity levels on tomato yield were studied in this experiment. Result: The results revealed that variety Alafua Large performed comparatively better in all cases. This recorded maximum fruit length (4.22 cm), fruit breadth (3.31 cm), individual fruit weight (45.60 g), number of fruits (7.83) and fruit yield (352.10 g) whereas Alton recorded the minimum of the above yield attributes. In the case of the combined effect of variety and salinity, Alafua Large showed better yield (432.17 g and 394.51 g) per plant than the other varieties when combined with the lower salinity level i.e., EC 2 dSm-1 and 4 dSm-1, respectively. The yield of tomato varieties declined with the increasing salinity level condition. The yield of Alafua Large was 194.54 g when applied with 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. Therefore, from the results, Alafua Large is comparatively more salt tolerant than the other varieties which were studied in this experiment.