Impact of salicylic acid foliar spray on tomato growth, yield and quality under drought conditions

<p>The experiment, conducted using BARI Tomato-14, was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications, resulting in 12 treatment combinations (3×4). The study examined two factors: Factor A, which included three levels of moisture availability (W1: 100%, W2: 75%, and W3: 50% evapotranspiration moisture), and Factor B, which tested four concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) as a drought stress mitigating agent (S0: Control, S1: 50 ppm, S2: 75 ppm, and S3: 100 ppm). Results indicated that both drought stress and salicylic acid application significantly influenced morphological, physiology, yield contributing features and fruit quality traits of tomato. The highest plant height (110.0 cm), SPAD value 49.73, Vitamin C 5.61 (mg/100g), protein content 2.52 (mg/100g), fruit weight (69.0g) and fruit yield per plant (2.3 kg) were recorded in the treatment combination of W<sub>1</sub>S<sub>2 </sub>(100% evapotranspiration moisture and 75 ppm salicylic acid)<sub>. </sub>Conversely, the lowest value was found in W<sub>3</sub>S<sub>0 </sub>(50% evapotranspiration moisture and no salicylic acid)<sub>.  </sub>These findings suggest that foliar application of salicylic acid can effectively mitigate the harmful effects of drought stress in tomatoes, enhancing plant growth, productivity and nutritional quality of fruit.</p> <p>published by the <strong> <a href="https://innspub.net/international-journal-of-biosciences/">International Journal of Biosciences (IJB)</a></strong></p>