biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 51:597-600, 2007 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-007-0132-7

Responses of the cherry rootstock to salinity in vitro

U. Erturk¹, N. Sivritepe^1,*, C. Yerlikaya², M. Bor³, F. Ozdemir³, I. Turkan³

¹ Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey

² Chemical Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

³ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

The in vitro response of sweet cherry rootstock Gisela 5 (Prunus cerasus × Prunus canescens) to increasing concentrations of NaCl (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM) in the Murashige and Skoog culture medium was studied. Induced salinity reduced growth and chlorophyll content in shoots but had no effect on water content. The increase in malondialdehyde content indicated that salinity induced oxidative stress which was accompanied with the visible symptoms of salt injury in the shoots. Antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, catalase, and glutathione reductase were also significantly elevated. Although no change was observed in the Cl concentration, Na concentration of shoots significantly rose and NaCl treatments impaired K, Ca and Mg nutrition and induced imbalance in K:Na and Na:Ca ratios.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes; chlorophyll; growth; ion content; lipid peroxidation; salt injury

Subjects: antioxidants, antioxidant enzymes; ascorbate peroxidase; catalase; cherry roostock; chlorophyll a,b; glutathione reductase; growth analysis, plant development, biomass and yield enhancement; lipid peroxidation; metals; nutrient medium, Murashige and Skoog (MS); salinity, salt stress; salt injury

Received: September 18, 2006; Accepted: February 28, 2007; Published: September 1, 2007Show citation