Salt resistance of plants selected in vitro
--S.N.Larina, Yu.I.Dolgykh and Z.B.Shamina

Cell cultures initiated from immature embryos of A188 were cultivated on MS growth medium with 1% NaCl. Viable salt-resistant calli were selected during 6 subcultures.

Part of the salt-resistant embryogenic calli was used for plant regeneration. Regenerated plants had decreased viability and fertility. After 4 subcultures, the regeneration ability of callus has been lost.
 

Subculturing on NaCl 1%	1	2	3	4
No. regenerants in vitro	18	23	9	4
No. of regenerants in soil	4	8	3	4
No. of fertile regenerants	4	0	1	3

The progeny of 8 regenerated plants were tested for salt resistance in hydroponic chamber. The solution for plant cultivation was based on MS salts with addition of NaCl 0.5%. Results are shown in Fig.1. Number of subcultures is shown in parentheses.

Among R1 plants, the best germination and viability was in regenerants from 1 subculture. Germination in 0.5% NaCl was 100%. Viability was considerably better than that of the A188 line. Increasing the number of subcultures did not lead to improved salt resistance of regenerated plants.

Seeds from one of the R1(1) regenerants were used for obtaining R2 plants and backcrosses of R1 X A188. Salt resistance was analysed. The results are represented in Fig. 2. All the seeds germinated 2 - 2.5 times better than the control line. Backcrosses have demonstrated the best results.

Figure 1. Viability of R1 plants on NaCl 0.5%.

Figure 2. Viability of R2, BC plants on NaCl 0.5%.

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