Some effects of sodiumchloride on cells of ricecultured in vitro

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties differ in the salt resistance of their cells in vivo; that is, different degrees of cellular damage are associated with similar concentrations of NaCl in the leaf tissue in different rice varieties (Yeo and Flowers, Physiol. Plant., 59 (1983) 189). Cells of two varieties differing in this respect were cultured in a liquid medium and the rate of oxygen uptake of cells which had been grown for up to 5 weeks in NaCl and in concentrations as high as 600 mol m-3 measured by conventional manometry. Sodiumchloride at up to 200 mol m-3 had little effect on oxygen uptake by either variety although cells of one variety were eventually killed by 600 mol m-3 NaCl. The results are discussed in relation to the value of tissue-culture in screening plants for resistance to salinity and to the effects of salinity on cells in the intact plant.