Intra‐specific variation for salt tolerance in a potential oil‐seed crop, brown mustard(Brassica juncea(l.) Czern. and Coss.)

Abstract

Thirty eight accessions of brown mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. and Coss.) were screened after two weeks growth in solution culture containing 120 mol m‐3 NaCl. Considerable variation for salt tolerance was observed in this set of germplasm, since some accessions showed relatively vigorous growth in saline medium. In order to determine the consistency of degree of salt tolerance at different growth stages of crop life cycle two salt tolerant accessions, P‐15 and KS‐51 and two salt sensitive 85362 and 85605 were tested at the adult stage in 0(control), 100 and 200 mol m‐3 NaCl. Both the tolerant accessions produced significantly greater fresh and dry biomass and had considerably higher seed yield than those of the salt sensitive accessions. Analysis of different ions in the leaves showed that salt tolerant accessions contained greater amounts of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ than the salt sensitive accessions, although they did not differ significantly for leaf Cl‐. Only one salt tolerant accession P‐15 had greater leaf K/Na ratio and K+ versus Na+ selectivity compared with the tolerant KS‐51 and the two salt sensitive accessions. From this study it was established that there is a considerable variation for salt tolerance in B.juncea which can be exploited by selection and breeding for improvement of its salt tolerance. Since the degree of salt tolerance in B.juncea does not change at different growth stages of the crop life cycle, selection for salt tolerance at the initial growth stages could provide individuals that would be tolerant at all other growth stages. Accumulation of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ in the leaves are important components of salt tolerance in B.juncea.