The influence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi on tolerance to saline stress of tomatoes

Abstract

A Romanian tomato landrace was tested for tolerance to saline stress in pot culture. To improve the tolerance of plants to osmotic stress, we tested the effect of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Plants were assessed before and after application of saline solution for chlorophyll and dry matter content. To test the level of tolerance to salinity, we extracted the proline from plants. Results show that arbuscular mycorrhiza determined a significant reduction of chlorophyll content in normal growing conditions, but after the stress was induced, the differences between mycorrhized and non-mycorrhized plants reduced and differences were not statistically different. Dry matter content was not significantly influenced by any factor. After application of NaCl solution, non-mycorrhized plants had the highest proline content, meanwhile the mycorrhiza alleviated the level of osmotic stress.