EFFECT OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF TOMATO UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during October 2019 to February 2020 to find out the effects of plant growth regulators on tomato growth, yield and quality when subjected to drought stress. Two varieties of tomato namely BARI Tomato 2 and BARI Tomato14 were used in this experiment. The treatments i.e. T = Control (No water stress), T 1 =Drought stress, T 2 0 =Drought + 100 ppm Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), T

=Drought + 100 ppm Abscisic Acid (ABA), T = Drought + 100 ppm Salicylic Acid (SA) were used in this experiment. Twenty five days old, healthy and uniform seedlings were transplanted in plastic pot. Ten days after transplanting drought was imposed for three weeks. Ten days after transplanting treatments were also applied by hand sprayer. Three weeks after drought stress the plants were rewatered again. The results indicated that drought stress significantly reduced morphological, yield and quality parameters of tomato. The plant growth regulators effectively reduced the effects of drought stress. Among the plant growth regulators, IAA is the most suitable for mitigating drought stress and maintaining tomato growth, yield and fruit quality.