VARIABILITY OF THE RESPONSE TO SODIUM CHLORIDE OF EIGHT ECOTYPES OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA.

The variability of the sensitivity to sodium chloride (NaCl) in relation with leaf ionic content has been explored in Arabidopsis thaliana. Seedlings of eight ecotypes (WS, COL, LER, NOK0, NOK1, NOK2, NW40, and N273) were grown on a peat substrate mixed or not with 50 mM NaCl. The effect of NaCl treatment on rosette leaf dry weight after 18 days (vegetative stage) was used to establish a scale of sensitivity to salt, where COL was the most sensitive ecotype and NOK2 the more tolerant one. The tolerance to NaCl was associated to a better growth of plants, responsible for a dilution of Na+ in leaf tissues, and to a better supply of K+ to leaves. These two characteristics were responsible for maintenance of a high K/Na ratio in leaves of to the most tolerant ecotypes (NOK1, NOK2), as compared to the other ones. Responses of leaf peroxidase activity to a five-day treatment with NaCl in light and darkness conditions suggest that oxidative status is changed only in the sensitive ecotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]