IS IONIC CONTENT A GOOD ESTIMATOR OF SALT-TOLERANCE IN THE TOMATO?
G. Anastasio , G. Palomares, 0. Costa, F. Nuez
Summary
Tomato is an important vegetable crop in Spain/ especially
in certain South East areas with a very mild climate. However/ the areas are
also characterized by a short annual rainfall (200--400 mm/yr) with a long dry
season in summer. The shortage of water is leading to the use of low quality
waters to irrigate/ thus enhancing the hazard of land salinization and becoming
a restraint to yield. The breeding for better tomato crops adapted to salt conditions
is a way to avoid the undesirable effects of salt upon the economic output of
the crop. Nevertheless the lack of target traits related to the organismic phenomenon
known as "salt-tolerance" difficults the aelective task. The paper
is involved in searching salt markers to be used as target traits in the breeding
for salt tolerance.
Key words:
salt tolerance; Lycopersicon esculentum; yield traits;
ionic content; variability