Screening of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars against cadmium through shotgun approach

Ten tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cultivars K-25, K-21, NTS-9, Kaveri, NBR-Uday, Swarnodya, Sarvodya, NBR-Uttam, Malti, and S-22 were soaked (i.e., shotgun approach) in various concentrations of CdCl2 (0.0, 50, 100 or 150 mu M) for variable durations (0, 4, 8, or 12 h) with the aim of finding out the degree of tolerance. The data obtained at 30 days after sowing indicated that all the growth and photosynthetic characteristics were decreased significantly as the concentration of cadmium increased irrespective of soaking duration. All the cultivars differ widely in their ability to tolerate the Cd stress. The variety S-22 could not survive in the presence of any Cd concentrations, the variety Sarvodya, NBR-Uttam, and Malti experienced severe damage; however, the variety Kaveri, NBR-Uday and Swarnodya were moderately affected. Moreover the variety K-25, K-21 and NTS-9 showed the maximum resistance to cadmium concentrations.