Effect of Different Salinity Level on Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Production under Climate Change Condition in Bangladesh

Abstract

Tomato is a crop with the greatest economic importance in the world and salinity stress causes are reduction in the quantity and quality of crop production. Today the main challenge in world agriculture is to sustain the continuously growing global population, and this becomes more difficult due to climatic change, as this imposes further abiotic stress. The aim of this study was to find out the salinity effect on tomato production. The study was initiated at the Irrigation and Water Management (IWM) research field of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangladesh during October 2007 to April 2008 cropping season. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. The treatments were: T1= Irrigation with fresh water, T2= Irrigation with saline water containing 4 dS m−1 of Electrical conductivity (Seawater cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen as freshwater due to its high salinity. Conductivity and salinity have a strong correlation.), T3= Irrigation with saline water containing 6 dS m−1 of Electrical conductivity, T4= Irrigation with saline water containing 8 dS m−1 of Electrical conductivity and T5= Irrigation with saline water containing 10 dS m−1 of Electrical conductivity. We found that the plants irrigated with the T1 treatment (Irrigation with fresh water) was the highest fruit yield plant-1 (1.52 kg) whereas the lowest yield (0.667 kg) was obtained from the higher level of saline water treatment T5 (10 dS m−1). When the fruit yield was considered the effective treatment for the highest total fruit yield (36.57 t ha-1) was produced by the T1 treatment (Irrigation with fresh water) and the lowest fruit yield (21.87 t ha-1) was found from the treatment T5 (10 dS m−1). The effect of different salinity levels of irrigation such as fresh water, 4 dS m−1, 6 dS m−1, 8 dS m−1 and 10 dS m−1 on total soluble solid was significantly influenced. The highest total soluble solid (2.53) was shown in T5 treatment (10 dS m−1) whereas the lowest (2.00) in Irrigation with fresh water treatment.