Enhancement of Drought Tolerance and Plant Growth in Tomato by Trichoderma harzianum Seed Treatment

The proficiencies of soil microorganisms to drought tolerance have been known for many years, but their use as crop inoculants was not explored in agriculture commercially. One possibility to increase the drought tolerance is to use beneficial microorganisms as seed treatment. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Trichoderma harzianum on the growth and development of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant under water stress condition. Trichoderma harzianum is applied to the seeds by treating seeds with Trichoderma harzianum before sowing. Parameters including germination percentage, chlorophyll content, leaf area, number of leaves, plant height, root length, plant fresh and dry weight and yield were recorded in all the treatments along with the untreated control. Tomato seeds treated with Trichoderma harzianum had higher seed germination percentage and chlorophyll content 95.50%, (2.41%), 42.59 SAPAD units (13.83%) respectively than untreated seed. Maximum leaf area and number of leaves 11.71 cm² (19.40%), 190.75 (15.43%) respectively recorded in the plants of Trichoderma harzianum treated seeds in water stress condition as compared to untreated seeds. Under extreme water stress condition plant height and root length of tomato plant increased significantly 98.25 cm, (19.45%), 41.25 cm (42.24%) respectively in Trichoderma harzianum treated seeds as compare to untreated seed. Also, Trichoderma harzianum seed treatment in tomato showed a significantly higher plant fresh and dry weight 189.43 g (8.65%) and 31.98 g (47.57%) respectively in drought condition as compared to untreated seeds. Trichoderma harzianum seed treatment played critical role in drought condition by increasing yield 731.25 g/plant (27.62%) increase over untreated seeds. Taken together, the study recommends that in drought condition for enhanced tomato growth Trichoderma harzianum should be used as eco-friendly solutions by seed treatment.