Determining the Effect of Natural Silica to Alleviate Salinity Stress of Tomatoes (Lycopersicum escullentum Mill.) on Entisol

Abstract

This chapter primarily focuses on the effect of silica fertilizer (Si), salt stress and their interactions on the agronomic characteristics of tomato plants on Entisol soil. High salinity leads to a decrease in plant growth, biomass, yield, photosynthesis, and water use efficiency as salinity stress negatively impacts the morphological, biochemical, and physiological processes of plants. Tomato is one of the most common and widely consumed vegetable crops in the world. This research was conducted in ex-farm screen houses, Agronomy and Horticulture laboratories, and Soil Science laboratories, Faculty of Agriculture, Jenderal Soedinnan University from January 2020 to April 2020. The experiment employed factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) wid1 2 factors experiments i.e. level of conductivity, namely KO= 0 ds/m / pot, KI = 1 ds/m / pot, K2 = 2 ds/m/ pot, and K3 = 3 ds/m/pot, and doses of Si fertilizer, namely SO= 0 g/pot, SI = Sg/pot, S2 = 10 g/pot, and S3 = 15 g/pot. There are 16 treatment combinations with 3 replications, in total 48 experimental unit were used. The variables observed were plant height, number of leaves, chlorophyll content, flowering age, 1 number of flowers, number of fits, fruit weight, and fruit volume. Tomato blooms multiplied when Si fertilizer was applied. Tomato plant height and weight were lowered by salinity stress. The quantity of leaves and blooms is influenced by the combination of salt stress and silica fertilizer (Si). The highest number of leaves was at the dose of KCl 1 ds/m/plant and silica fertilizer 5 g/plant, while the highest number of flowers was at the dose of KCl 3 ds.lm. plant and silica fertilizer 10 g/plant. The application of Si fertilizer causes the plant to maintain the number of flowers. Si applied to plants affects increasing the photosynthetic capacity. This has a positive correlation with growth rates such as the number of productive branches and the number of flowers.