Impact of Salinity on the Growth of Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum ) Cultivated under Laboratory Conditions

Abstract

Globally, soil salinity is becoming a bigger issue that jeopardizes agricultural productivity. This study was conducted to address this problem by examining the " impact of Salinity on the Growth of Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum) Grown in Laboratory Conditions." In the summer of 2022, the study was conducted in the Faculty of Science laboratory at Omar Al-Mukhtar University in Libya. Five different concentrations of sodium chloride were utilized as treatments in the study, which employed a completely randomized design: zero mM (Control), fifty mM, one hundred mM, one hundred and fifty mM, and two hundred mM. Examining different growth parameters, including plant height, leaf count, leaf size, and fruit production per plant, was the aim. Four tests were conducted on each treatment. Examining different growth parameters, including plant height, leaf count, leaf size, and fruit production per plant, was the aim. The results demonstrated that all of the growth variables assessed were significantly harmed by increased salt levels. For instance, plant height dropped by roughly 29.6% at the maximum salt concentration (200 mM). Similarly, other measures like the number of leaves for each plant, leaf area, and fruits per plant also showed a discernible decline, as did other variables like the number of leaves on each plant, the size of the leaves, and the number of fruits they produced.