Abstract

Christophe Bernard Gandonou, Fidèle Bada, Simplice Léopold Gnancadja ,Jamal Abriniand Nadia Skali-Senhaji

The effects of salt on growth and ions accumulation were investigated in two sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) cultivars, CP66-346 (salt-tolerant) and CP65-357 (salt-sensitive). Young plants of these cultivars were exposed to four NaCl concentrations (0, 17, 34 and 68 mM). Na+ , Cland K+ ions concentrations were quantified after 2 weeks of stress. NaCl effect resulted in plant growth reduction in both cultivars but cv. CP66-346 plants were less affected compared to CP65-357 indicating that CP66-346 was more salt-tolerant than CP65-357. Na+ and Clconcentrations increased significantly in leaves and roots under salinity while K+ concentration significantly decreased in both cultivars. The highest accumulation of Na+ and Cloccurred in young leaves of the salt tolerant cv. CP66-346 coupled with the lowest reduction in K+ concentration. These results suggest that the salt tolerance of cv. CP66-346 is closely related to a high accumulation of Na+ and Cl- . . K + ions also may play a key role in sugarcane salt tolerance.