Salt tolerance in the wild relatives of the cultivated tomato: responses of Lycopersicon esculentum, L. cheesmanii, L. peruvianum, Solanum pennellii and F₁ hybrids to high salinity.

The elongation rate of the stem of 2 tomato cultivars was higher than that of the wild plants, but under salinity it was relatively lower. Among all species, S. pennellii was the most succulent in all its major parts under both control and saline conditions. The wild species, especially S. pennellii, showed high accumulation of Na⁺ in the leaf and top and a greater decrease in K⁺ content under salinity compared with the cultivated plants. In all three species, Na⁺ probably substitutes for potassium in, at least, some of its physiological functions. -from Authors