Low temperatures lead to chilling injury symptoms of tomatoes plants. In this study, the possibility of tomato chilling tolerance was evaluated through employing drought pretreated simulated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) at 10 and 20%. After imposing drought stress, the seedlings were subjected to chilling 6 h/day at 3°C for 6 days. Results showed that drought pretreatment improved seedlings’ growth, chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration, and internal CO2 concentration of treated seedlings as compared to the controls. The highest chilling tolerance was obtained at 20% drought pretreatment. In conclusion, our results revealed that drought pretreatment through implementing a change in gas exchange paved the way for alleviating adverse effects of chilling on tomato seedlings.
