Influence of salt stress on growth and frost resistance of three winter cereals

Abstract

This paper presents results of a study on the influence of 0-150 mmol NaCl dm-3 Hoagland solution on growth, chlorophyll content, photosynthesis and frost resistance of seedlings of three winter cereals: wheat - cv. Almari, rye - cv. Amilo, and triticale - cv. Tornado. Sodium chloride at 25 mmol dm-3 caused better growth of wheat shoots and roots, both of fresh and dry matter. Higher concentrations of NaCl in the medium decreased the biomass of the tested seedlings. The influence of NaCl on the chlorophyll content in the seedlings varied. The conductometry method showed that the resistance of the cell walls of wheat and rye to low temperature decreased in the presence of NaCl in the growth medium. Luminescence has shown that seedlings that grew in NaCl-containing medium indicated an impediment of electron flow at a lower temperature than the control plants.