干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Three cassava clones (SOM-1, ’’ 05 ’’, and ’’ 50 ’’) were cultured in vitro on MS medium plus sucrose (30 g L-1) and myo-inositol (100 mg L-1) without plant growth regulators and with additions of 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 g L-1 NaCl to test their salt tolerance. The same cassava clones were cultivated in greenhouse conditions on a sandy soil substratum and irrigated with 20% strength Hoagland solution, and additions of 0, 4, and 8 g L-1 of NaCl. Salinity negatively affected the survival, development, leaf water content, and mineral composition (mainly by accumulation of Cl and Na) of both in vitro and ex vitro plants, but with different intensity in each clone. In both conditions of culture (in vitro and ex vitro) clone SOM-1, from a desert and saline zone of Somalia, was the most tolerant and clone ’’ 05 ’’, from a rainy region of Ivory Coast, the most sensitive. Clone ’’ 50 ’’ tolerance to in vitro salt treatments, although lower, was not significantly different from that of SOM-1 but the ex vitro response was similar to ’’ 05 ’’. In general, there was a correlation between in vitro and ex vitro behavior of the cassava plant regarding salt tolerance, which would allow the in vitro culture method to be used for selection of salt-tolerant plants of this crop.