Abstract

Drought is a major problem in arid and semi-arid regions and is the primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most of the crop plants by more than 0%. Tomato cultivation is concentrated in semi-arid zones, where water stress is frequent. It is important to ascertain its response, while selecting cultivars that are tolerant and productive. Therefore, eighteen tomato genotypes were used to assess the impact of drought on various growth traits such as plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, TDMP and yield by adopting 100 and 50% field capacity. The results indicated 53% yield reduction under drought compared to 100% field capacity. As the stress increased from 100 to 50% field capacity, significant reduction in growth traits associated with yield were noticed. However, slight increment of root length and root volume were observed at 50% field capacity. The genotypes LE 114, LE 57, LE118 and LE 27, which showed significantly less reduction in plant height, leaf area, TDMP and yield during drought were considered as drought tolerant. Genotypes LE 1, LE 3, LE 20 and COTH 2, which recorded the highest reduction in plant height, leaf area, TDMP and ultimately poor yield were considered as drought susceptible.

Keywords: Drought, Tomato, Root length, Leaf area, Yield