Grafting on salt tolerant eggplant rootstocks can be a promising approach for enhancing the salinity tolerance of tomato. In this study, the performance of tomato cv. Kashi Aman grafted on two salt tolerant eggplant rootstocks (IC-111056 and IC-354557) was evaluated against non-grafted control under saline (EC_iw 6 and 9 dS m⁻¹) and non-saline (EC_iw ~1 dS m⁻¹) irrigation for 2 years. Grafting improved tomato plant performance under salt stress. Moreover, rootstock IC-111056 outperformed IC-354557. An increase in the average fruit yield of grafted plants compared with non-grafted control at 6 and 9 dS m⁻¹ was 24.41% and 55.84%, respectively with rootstock IC-111056 and 20.25% and 49.08%, respectively with IC-354557. Grafted plants maintained a superior water status under saline irrigation, evidenced with the relative water content and chlorophyll SPAD index, along with higher proline and antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase). Rootstocks mediated the partitioning of toxic saline ions in the scions by promoting higher Na⁺ accumulation (14% of mean accumulation) in the older leaves and lower (24%) in the younger leaves of grafted plants. This resulted in higher K⁺/Na⁺ ratios within the younger (active) leaves of the grafted plants. Our study demonstrates that grafting tomato seedlings on selected salt tolerant eggplant rootstocks is a viable alternative for improving plant physiological status and fruit yield under salt stress, through favorable modulation of salt ion partitioning in the scions.

Background: Legumes are under explored crops in comparison to staple cereal crops and decreasing agricultural lands along with waste lands and poor water resources are the main constraints for sustainable agricultural production. Chickpea is the third most important food legume, known for its high nutritive values, generally considered as relatively salt sensitive crop. Existence of large genetic variation provides opportunity to explore variations and exploit the available salinity tolerance in chickpea. Methods: A Randomised block design experiment was conducted to explore the salinity tolerance in 10 chickpea genotypes including CSG-8962 (Karnal Chana-1), as salt tolerant check during 2018-19 and 2019-20 under control and salinity ECiw 6 dS/m and ECiw 9 dS/m. The leachate was collected from time to time to monitor the buildup of the desired salinity. At harvesting stage, yield and yield attributing traits were recorded and yield indices were calculated to identify the potential of chickpea genotypes against salinity stress. Result: Saline irrigation water significantly decreased the number of pods/plant by 21.29% under ECiw 6 dS/m and 53.29% under ECiw 9 dS/m. Genotypes ICCV 10, CSG 8962 and DCP 92-3 retained maximum number of filled pods at ECiw 6 dS/m, while under higher salinity of ECiw 9 dS/m, CSG 8962, ICCV 10 and KWR108 had the highest filled pods. Saline water of 6 dS/m caused reduction of 36.1% - 65.0% in grain yield, which further increased to 81.0% - 98.5% with saline water of 9 dS/m. Genotypes S7 and ICCV - 10 had percent grain yield reduction of 36.13% and 41.24% respectively whereas the salt tolerant check had a percent reduction of 46.94% at ECiw 6 dS/m. Based on studied yield indices, genotypes S7, KWR108 and CSG 8962 showed relatively higher tolerance than other studied genotypes, whereas BG 256 and ICC 4463 were the most salt sensitive chickpea genotypes.