THE FUNCTIONAL STATUS OF SOME GENOTYPES OF TOMATO PLANTS UNDER SALTY CONDITIONS IN GREENHOUSE

          The experiment was carried out in unheated greenhouse under natural illumination and temperature using four genotypes of tomato: Lycopersico. esculentum ‘Marglobe’ (standard), and 3 wild genotypes L. pimpinellifolium, L. hirsutum and L. peruvianum. The plants were grown in containers filled with soil-turf mixture.
Plants at the age of two leaves were stressed by adding 1% NaCl solution of NaCl to the soil for 10 days.
Control plants were watered without NaCl-free nutrient solution.
Dry matter accumulation, leaf area, plant height, leaf water content and see germination were measured.
Increasing salt concentration in the root zone had negative influence on plants of cv ‘Marglobe’. Salinity decreased dry mass, leaf sap concentration concentration and water-holding ability in cultivated tomato.
Wild species were not affected under salty soil conditions and their physiological status was somewhat better compared to control plants.
More interesting result was the increasing of leaf area under salty soil conditions, in particular in wild genotypes.
Wild genotypes from South America could can be used in selection proposes for improving the resistance to salty soil conditions.