biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 25:88, 1983 | DOI: 10.1007/BF02902114

Verification and utilisation of a preselection test system for the salt tolerance of plants based on the proline content

W. Dreier¹

¹ Département de Biochemie, Section Biologie de l'Université Humboldt de Berlin, Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, R.D.A.

This paper deals with the verification of a test of crop seedlings for the determination of the salt tolerance. There is a typical concentration of NaCl in the culture medium above which an enhancement of the free proline content is induced (critical point, critical concentration). The determination of this critical concentration in 19 cultivars of crop plants has proved that plants grown in aride areas (i.e. Hordeum, Triticum durum) have a critical concentration that is by about 50 to 80 mmol l^-1 of NaCl higher than that of plants grown in more humid regions (i.e. Triticum aestivum). The critical concentration is not influenced by pH changes of the external solution. Calcium application leads to an enhancement of tolerance. The different increases of growth and fresh mass of salt sensitive and salt tolerant plants selected by this test system proved the aptitude of the critical concentration in culture medium for proline augmentation as a test parameter.

Received: December 18, 1981; Accepted: May 27, 1982; Published: March 1, 1983  Show citation