The effect of salinity pretreatment of Glomus mosseae on induction of salinity tolerance in Lycopersicum esculentum L.

Tomato (Lycpoersicum esculemtum) belongs to the Solanaceae potato family and is an important crop plant. It is relatively resistant to salinity, but in the saline environment growth and production of the plant significantly reduces. On the other hand, the presence of mycorrhiza fungus can improve the adverse effects of salinity. A factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted on tomato plants in the Islamic Azad University. The first factor was mycorrhiza treatment with NaCl at 0 (control), 50, and 100 mM, and the second factor included salinity stress at 0 (control), 50, 100, and 200 mM.  Based on the obtained results from variance analysis, the effects of mycorrhiza pretreatment with NaCl were significant on the root length. Also, the level of salinity pretreatment of mycorrhiza had a significant effect on proline content (p≤0.05). Moreover, salinity treatment had a significant effect on stem length, leaf area, the inoculation percentage of mycorrhiza, and proline content (p≤0.01) and on stem length (p≤0.05).   Moreover, salinity pretreatment of mycorrhiza and salinity treatment reduced root length, the inoculation percentage of mycorrhiza, and proline accumulation. Salinity treatment reduced root length, leaf area, stem length, and the inoculation percentage of mycorrhiza while it increased proline content. Finally, it was found that salinity stress reduced the root length, stem length, leaf area, leaf water content, the inoculation percentage of mycorrhiza, potassium, phosphorous, and nitrogen while it increased the proline content. Finally, mycorrhiza pretreatment with NaCl was found to reduce the negative effects of salinity stress.