An Overview of the Impact of Seed Priming on Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) L.) under normal and salt conditions: From Seed Germination to Harvest

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)  is one of the most important vegetable crops worldwide and in Saudi Arabia, due to its high nutritional value and suitability for cultivation under a wide range of environmental conditions. Tomato is one of the cash vegetable crops that generate good and continuous income for farmers for two to three months. Globally, tomato is considered a major source of income and a major contributor to food security. Due to the small genome of the tomato, it is considered as a model for physiological, genetic, molecular and breeding studies to improve the morphological, yield and yield attributes and its tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, tomato production and expanding cultivation face many challenges, especially with the global environment changes regarding climate changes, freshwater availability and quality, pests and diseases and soil quality. There were many studies conducted to find effective and applicable solutions to overcome the environmental problems facing the expansion of tomato cultivation and increase productivity, including following good agricultural practices (GAP), improving and breeding new varieties of high yield and quality under harsh environmental conditions and the use of growth biostimulants that help plants grow and produce under difficult conditions. Seed priming is one of the recommended solutions to help tomatoes germination, growth and productivity under biotic and abiotic stresses. The presented review study aims to present the recent studies that have been carried out on the use of seed priming to improve tomatoes germination, growth and productivity under environmental stress conditions. The review is divided into three sections focusing on: (1) seed priming to improve tomato seeds germination; (2) seed priming to improve the growth and yield of tomatoes; and 3) seed priming to improve tomato tolerance salt stress.