Salt Tolerance in the Triticeae:<i>Leymus sabulosus</i>

Abstract

Elymus dahuhcus, Leymus giganteus, L. angustus, L. sabulosus and, to a lesser extent, L. triticoides, were found to tolerate 200 mol m−3 NaCl in solution culture. Elymus dahuricus differed from the Leymus species in its ion-uptake characteristics, showing a greater uptake of Cl and Na and a greater loss of K from the shoots. In a more detailed experiment on Leymus sabulosus it was found that transpiration rates altered rapidly in response to changes in external salinity whereas the accumulation of Na and Cl in the leaves exhibited a lag of several days. In salt stressed L. sabulosus Cl partially replaced the high levels of nitrate found in the leaves of control plants. Glycinebetaine levels increased in the leaves from 8.0 mol m−3 plant sap in the controls to 28 mol m−3 plant sap at 250 mol m−3 NaCl.