DROUGHT INDUCED CHANGES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF DIFFERENT TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum L.) VARIETIES

Abstract

Drought is a severe limiting factor for vegetable production. So, a pot experiment was conducted in the field laboratory of the Department of Agroforestry and Environmental Science, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, from October 2018 to February 2019 to observe the performances of four tomato varieties (BARI Tomato 2, 14, 15 and 16) under three different drought treatments (irrigation interval: 1 daycontrol,

3 days-mild and 5 days-severe drought) in completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed significant negative influence of drought which decreased plant height, leaf number, stem diameter, SPAD value, growth rate, fresh and dry weight etc. resulting yield loss. Under mild drought, yield plant

decreased by 32, 8, 14 and 20% where under severe drought, it decreased by 35, 52, 47 and 51% in BARI Tomato 2, 14, 15 and 16, respectively. So, BARI tomato 14 is the best variety under mild and BARI tomato 2 under severe stress condition.