Relative Salt Tolerace of 33 Switchgrass Cultivars.
Poster Number 312
Monday, November 4, 2013
Tampa Convention Center, East Hall, Third Floor
Yiming Liu1, Xunzhong Zhang2, Bingyu Zhao1, Kevin Childs3, C. Robin Buell4 and Jeongwoon Kim3, (1)Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (2)Crop and Soil Environmental Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (3)Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (4)Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a warm-season C4 grass that is a target lignocellulosic biofuel species. Salt stress is one of major limiting factors for switchgrass in many regions. The objective of this study was to examine relative salt tolerance of 33 switchgrass cultivars. Seeds of each variety were planted in conetainers and grown in greenhouse. Two months later, the grass was grown in half strength Hoagland’s nutrient solution (control) or half strength Hoagland’s nutrient solution with 200-300 mM NaCl (salt stress treatment) for 24 days. Salt tolerance was determined based on various parameters including photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm), electrolyte leakage, and chlorophyll content. The results showed that there were significant differences in salt stress tolerance between varieties. Among the 33 varieties, Alamo, Kanlow, TEM-LoDorm, T-2101, BN-13645-64 and T-2086 had relatively good salt stress tolerance; in contrast, Blackwell-3, 70SG0021, Pathfinder, Shawnee, 70SG0016, T4614,70SG003,T16971, and BN-18757-67 had relatively poor salt stress tlerance.