Salt Tolerance of Different Varieties of Sorghum bicolor and Vicia faba

Abstract

The influence of NaCl (0, 2, 4 and 8 dS/m in the saturation extract) on yield and Na and K content of roots and shoots was investigated in pot trials with 22 varieties of Sorghum bicolor and 14 varieties of Vicia faba. If the plants grew on the experimental soil without any additional salt application, the Na content of the plant tissue was much higher (roots: l3 times, shoots: 3.5 times) in Vicia than in Sorghum. Vicia can be called more an includer and Sorghum more an excluder plant. With salt application, clear differences between the varieties were observed for Sorghum bicolor as well as for Vicia faba: As to the most sensitive varieties, we harvested only 65% (Sorghum) and  30% (Vicia) of the dry matter at 8 dS/m compared to no salt application. Some varieties showed more resistance, others were not damaged by the salt. Contrary to  Vicia, the salt tolerance of Sorghum bicolor was correlated with high significance with a lower Na translocation (r = - 0.570) and also with a higher K translocation (r = 0.596) from the roots into the leaves. The reasons are discussed.