TOLERANCE OF SODIUM CHLORIDE AND ITS GENETIC BASIS IN NATURAL POPULATIONS OF FOUR GRASS SPECIES

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Abstract
Summary: Tolerance to sodium chloride in solution culture and its genetic basis has been assessed for populations of Festuca rubra L., Holcus lanatus L., Agrostis stolonifera L., and Dactylis glomerata L. from salt marsh, spray zone, and inland habitats. Two populations of F. rubra from salt marshes and one population of A. stolonifera from a spray zone showed significant NaCl tolerance. However, in the main, responses of populations to increasing NaCl in the rooting medium showed little relationship with electrical conductivity or Na content of the soil. Narrow‐sense heritability estimates were high for all populations, except for one F. rubra population from a salt marsh and the population of A. stolonifera from a spray zone. Broad‐sense heritabilities were high for all populations suggesting high genetic components for variation in NaCl tolerance.