Plant Tissue Cult. 6(2) : 107-116, 1996

Comparison of Salt Tolerance in Whole Plants, Young Seedlings and Callus Cultures of Pennisetum americanum L.

Rakesh K. Gupta and Y. P. S. Bajaj¹

S. K. University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Regional Horticultural Research Station, Udheywalle, Jammu 180 002, India

Key words: Pearl millet, Callus culture, Salt tolerance, Pennisetum americanum

Abastract

In vitro manipulations have resulted in the isolation of salt-tolerant cell lines and plants of Pennisetum americanum. A comparative study has been conducted on in vivo and in vitro germination, plant growth and mortality, callus induction and growth on sodium chloride medium. The germination was both delayed and decreased with increasing level of salt. There was complete inhibition at 1 and 0.6% in vivo and in vitro, respectively. In gerneral, increasing levels of salinity progressively delayed heading date by 4-15 days, and sterility was observed at 0.4 and 0.5% salt. A comparison of salt tolerance in whole plants and callus cultures showed that callus was more tolerant than the germinating seedlings. Whereas callus in some cases continued to show same growth at even up to 2% salt, germination stopped at 0.5% and young seedlings watered with salt solution mostly died at 1% NaC1.

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