Embryogenic callus growth of maize submitted to salt stress

Abstract

Soil salinity is a very important problem in irrigated areas of the brazilian semi-arid area, where maize is a subsistence crop. To study the effect of NaCl concentrations in embryogenic calli of Jatinã C3 Anão, an important maize cultivar of the Northest of Brazil, calli were induced using immature embryos aseptically removed from the seeds and grown on N6 medium supplemented with 2 mg L-1 of 2,4-D. To study the effect of salinity in vitro, embryogenic calli were subjected to different concentrations of sodium chloride (0; 50; 100; 150 and 200 mmol L-1 of NaCl), in three replicates, during 60 days. Calli subjected up to100 mmol L-1 NaCl showed proline concentration 37% higher than callus treated with 50 mmol L-1 NaCl. This result suggests a positive effect of proline accumulation at salt stress conditions. However, at the highest concentration tested (150-200 mmol L-1 NaCl) as lower growth and also a lower proline accumulation was observed, probably due to an increase of the non embryogenic fraction of calli.