Seed priming improves yield attributes of tomato under salt stress in greenhouse conditions

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops, and salt stress is a major abiotic factor that negatively impacts its growth and physiological processes, resulting in low fruit yield.
This study, conducted at Tokyo University of Agriculture, aimed to mitigate the damage caused by salt stress and enhance yield.
The experiment was designed in a completely randomized design with five levels of salt stress (a – control, b – 50 mM, c – 100 mM, d – 150 mM, and e – 200 mM NaCl) and four priming treatments (a – control, b – 0.4 MPa, c – 0.8 MPa, and d – 1.2 MPa PEG6000). ‘Micro-Tom’ seeds were primed with specific concentrations of PEG6000 and kept in moist paper for germination.
Germinated seeds were sown in a germination bed, and after one month, seedlings with 3-4 leaves were transplanted to a rockwool plant bed.
Salt stress was applied through irrigation.
The results showed that salt stress reduced all fruit yield attributes compared to the control, but seed priming treatment significantly improved them.
The highest fruit weight (9.43 g) was observed in the 1.2 MPa treatment under control conditions.
The largest fruit diameter was observed in the 0.8 MPa treatment (20.7 mm), followed by the 1.2 MPa treatment (19.6 mm) under control conditions.
The 1.2 MPa treatment also resulted in the highest number of fruits under both control and salt stress conditions.
Additionally, fruit yield per plant was positively affected by seed priming.
Moreover, the fruits from primed plants were redder compared to those from non-primed plants and exhibited higher ethylene production.
Fruit redness and leaf ethylene production showed to have a significant positive correlation.
Thus, seed priming is an effective and eco-friendly practice that can enhance tomato yield attributes under salt stress conditions.

International Symposium on New Technologies for Sustainable Greenhouse Systems: GreenSys2023

N. Habibi, N. Terada, A. Sanada, K. Koshio

salinity, seed priming, fruit, tomato, yield

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1426.11