3.1 KiB
Executable file
3.1 KiB
Executable file
Tomatoes are sensitive to a range of environmental stressors that can impact their growth, yield, and quality.
- Nutritional Stress: Nitrogen deficiency, often combined with drought, can negatively affect the biological traits of pests like Tuta absoluta but is also unfavorable to the tomato plants themselves.
- Nitrate Overload: Excessive use of nitrate-based fertilizers can cause oxidative stress, leading to stunted growth and cellular damage.
- Salt Stress: Considered moderately salt-sensitive, with a saturated soil paste extract electrical conductivity (ECe) threshold value of 1.5 dS m−1.
- High Salinity: Leads to a decrease in the green parts of the plant and reduces the mineral nutrient content of potassium and calcium in the leaves.
- Sodium and Chloride Content: Salt stress can cause an increase in sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) content, which can be toxic to the plant.
- Grafting: Grafting tomato plants can enhance resistance to thermal stress.
- Drought Stress: Reduces leaf water content, photosynthesis rates, and stomatal conductance, negatively impacting leaf growth.
- Combined Drought and Nutrient Stress: This combination can lead to a significant reduction in leaf fresh weight, dry weight, and overall water content.
- Water Stress (General): Affects the growth and development of tomato plants negatively.
- Leaf Area: Plants under drought, salt, and water stress tend to have a smaller leaf area compared to control plants.
- Chlorophyll Content: Can be higher in plants under drought, salt, and excessive water stress compared to plants not exposed to drought.
- Potassium Levels: Salt stress can lead to higher potassium levels in the green parts of the plant compared to control plants.
- Calcium Levels: Salt accumulation can cause an increase in calcium in the root region.
- Magnesium Levels: The effect of moderate water reduction on magnesium (Mg2+) levels in leaves can vary depending on the cultivar.
- Heat Stress: High temperatures negatively impact both vegetative growth and reproductive processes, leading to significant losses in yield and fruit quality.
- Reproductive Stage: Heat stress during the reproductive stage is particularly damaging as it affects flower number, stigma exertion, pollen germination, and fruit set.
- Waterlogging: Can reduce plant growth, degrade chlorophyll, and increase oxidative stress markers like malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide, which damages membrane integrity.
- Phenolic Compounds: The concentration of phenolic compounds in leaves and fruits is a sensitive indicator of waterlogging stress.
- Wild vs. Cultivated Species: Wild tomato species may exhibit different and sometimes more robust responses to stresses like varied temperatures and nitrogen deficiency compared to cultivated varieties.
- Combined Stresses: The combination of abiotic (like drought and nutrient deficiency) and biotic (like herbivory) stresses can result in a "new stress state" with non-additive effects, which can be more harmful than single stressors.