Shoot and root dry weight in drought exposed tomato populations

Abstract

This research was conducted with the aim to among forty-one tested tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) populations distinguish those tolerant to limited water supply. Tolerance assessments were performed by using sixteen drought stress selection indices calculated on the basis of tomato shoot and root dry weight yields determined at water stress and non-stress conditions. Populations were differentiated in groups using the method of cluster analysis. The pot experiment was set in controlled greenhouse conditions and comprised optimally irrigated control and drought treatment (35.0 and 20.9% volumetric soil water content, respectively), imposed at the phase of intensive vegetative growth. The experiment was conducted at the Institute for Vegetable Crops in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia. The analyzed tomatoes exhibited significant differences in terms of response to limited irrigation, which had more pronounced effect on shoot dry weight than on the roots (average decrease of 64.4 and 35.7%, respectively). Consequently, root fraction in the total dry weight increased at drought for 68.2% on average. Shoot and root dry weights were positively correlated at optimal irrigation but not in drought, implying genotypic differences in terms of root adjustments to stress conditions. As for the calculated selection indices, substantial variation was found among the populations enabling their ranking in terms of drought tolerance. Since ranking was not the same in all cases, clustering the populations was performed taking into account all sixteen selection indices. The results of this analysis indicate that populations designated with numbers 126, 124, 131, 125, 128, 105, 101, 138, 110, 132 and 109 in Institute for Vegetable Crops germplasm collection exhibit satisfactory level of drought tolerance at vegetative phase and therefore may be used as parents in breeding programs.