A Tissue-Culture Derived Salt-Tolerant Line of Flax ( Linum usitatissimum)

Abstract

Flax seedlings (Linum usitatissimum) were used to initiate callus cultures. After a month of growth, the healthy callus was transferred to a similar medium supplemented with salts to meet or exceed those concentrations found in a saline soil of Saskatchewan. This salt medium also lacked growth hormones. After one month in the salt medium, most of the cells had died, but a few green cell aggregates remained. On non-salt-stress but otherwise similar medium, most cells remained healthy over the same period. The green pockets from the high salt medium were excised and transferred to a different medium that caused shoots to form from the callus. These shoots were later transferred to a medium that caused root formation from the base of the shoots. Plants taken through to maturity in soil have set seed and the progeny of these have been tested for salt-tolerance. Preliminary observations suggest that a salt-tolerant ability is present in the progeny. Some of the advantages and disadvantages of using this method to select for salt-tolerant lines are discussed.