Morphological Response of Lycopersicum esculentum Mill (Tomato) to Salt (NaCl and Na2 SO4) Stress

Soil salinity is regarded as the major factor affecting crop productivity. To evaluate the effect of NaCl and Na2SO4 at different concentrations on the morphological features of Tomato plant, a variety of tomato was grown in green house condition subjected to varying concentrations of NaCl and Na2SO4. All experimental units were laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The result obtained from the study showed a significant decline in plants height and number of leaves in stressed plants. Tomato plants subjected to high salinity (120 and 160mM Na2SO4) died off after 2weeks of treatment while plants treated with 160 mM of NaCl had the least biomass (0.82g). Fresh weight of Lycopersicumesculentum declined with increase in NaCl and Na2SO4 where Na2SO4 had least biomass and recorded crop mortality at 120 mM and 160mM concentration. This study, revealed that despite the ability of tomato plant to tolerate salinity stress at low concentration, a significantly decline in growth and biomass at higher salt concentration can occur. Both NaCl and Na2SO4 inhibited growth, metabolic activity, and ionic uptake. However, Na2SO4 affected plant growth more adversely than NaCl. Furthermore, tomato plants can die off at prolong subjection to salinity especially Na2SO4 stress.