The EgCBF3 plants showed altered phenotypes compared to the wild type plants. These plants exhibited stunted growth in the first three weeks ( Fig. 2A). The average plant height of the wild type tomatoes was 42.7 cm, about 2 times more than the transgenic lines (Table 2). However, this ratio changed 2 months after acclimation (Table 2). After 6 weeks, the transgenic plants started to grow faster and more vigorously than the wild type tomato plants (Fig. 2B). Unlike in the first 3 weeks, the leaf area, leaf fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) of the transgenic plants were significantly higher than that of the normal plants after two months (Table 2) (Fig. 2C and D). The transgenic plants also showed delayed leaf senescence compared to the wild type (Fig. 5). Further, while the axillary buds in normal plants were dormant at the early days, almost all of the ones in the transgenic lines started to grow. Other morphological and physiological parameters recorded two months after acclimation, that showed significant differences between the transgenic and wild type tomatoes, are as listed in Table 2.