Efficacy of novel water‐absorbing polymer amended soil for improving drought resilience of <i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>

Climate change has exacerbated the frequency and duration of droughts. To sustain food production in such conditions, water storage retention capacity soil must be enhanced. Development water-absorbing polymer (WAP) from coal carbon residue (fly ash) can provide an economical environmentally friendly alternative to commercial WAP for enhancing crop yield. The main objective this study is evaluate growth performance tomato species (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under continued drought conditions presence in-house developed fly ash-based (FA-WAP) against that commercially available (Com-WAP). Quantification soil–water curve (SWRC) revealed increase plant wilting time plant-available content (PAWC) order: control (no amendment) < Com-WAP-amended FA-WAP-amended soil. Both WAPs positively influenced transpiration factors crops terms stomatal conductance (SC) photosynthetic yield conditions. parameters (i.e., number fruits, total weight, shoot fresh biomass) increased by 82, 106, 115%, respectively, case as compared with control. Nevertheless, FA-WAP provided 20% higher during than WAP. application effective strategy impart beneficial usage FA waste significantly reducing irrigation requirement without compromising It also ensures sustainable stress management a major (tomato), thereby contributing towards United Nation's Sustainable Goals 2, 13, 15.