Draba verna L. (Brassicaceae/Cruciferae): A salt averse taxon

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to determine whether Draba verna L. (=Erophila verna (L.) Chevall. subsp. verna (L.) DC.), which is a relative of model organism Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. and distributing around saline areas, is a halophyte or not and to research the salinity tolerance during germination period. D. verna seeds were germinated at distilled water and different NaCl concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000 mM) at 8ºC/16ºC 12/12 h photoperiodism (light intensity 12000 lux ±%10) for 20 days. The NaCl concentrations and the germination percentages were as follows distilled water 100%, 100 mM NaCl 83%, 200 mM NaCl 2%, 300 mM NaCl 1% and no germination over 300 mM NaCl. Un-germinated seeds were taken into recovery and show 87.3% mean germination, and the ones still ungerminated were tested for viability. Increase in salinity, cause decrease in germination rate which means that D. verna is not resistant to salinity but salinity has important pressure on germination. The tolerance of D. verna seeds to salinity, although it has a wide distribution area at saline areas, is result of decrease in soil salinity during germination period. It can be concluded that D. verna is not a halophyte it is a salt avoider.