Effect of the root zone temperature and salt stress on plant growth, main branches and some other chemical characteristics of tomato fruit Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. memory

Abstract

In order to study the impact of salt stress (0, 1.5, 3 and 6) ds.m-1 in nutrient’s solution on tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. memory) at different root zone temperature [low (20°C), medium (25°C) and high (30°C)], an experiment was carried at Department of Horticultural, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran. The result showed that low and high root zone heating decreased leaf area, total sugar and phenol content compared to root zone temperature 25°C (optimum), while main branches number, pH, E.C. and anthocyanin of fruit,increased at high root zone temperature compared to low root zone temperature. Flavonoid increased under the root zone temperature of 20°C in comparison with temperatures 25 and 30°C, and stem diameter was not affected by root zone heating. Furthermore, salt stress at the level of 3 ds.m-1 increased stem diameter, total sugar, pH and EC of fruit, leaf area and phenol content, whereas salt stress at a high level (6 ds.m-1) increased flavonoid content. Besides, anthocyanin content decreased in control and salt stress at 6 ds.m-1 when compared to salt stress at 3 ds.m-1.