Development of Salt-Tolerant Alfalfa Clones by In Vitro Culture

In this research, in vitro culture was applied to evaluate five alfalfa lines for salt tolerance and to select and multiply the most resistant clones. The pregerminated seeds were tested on a semisolid culture medium enriched with four different NaCl concentrations. Saline stress response was estimated by evaluating the survival capacity, growth, sensitivity indexes and electrolyte leakage. The most salt-tolerant plantlets for each line were multiplied to clone true-to-type plants. At the same time, the selected clones were evaluated again in vitro on middle salt stress conditions to confirm the salt tolerance. In conclusion, in vitro culture allowed the rapid selection of alfalfa genotypes to develop salt-tolerant clones.