Determination of the salinity tolerance of some potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties under in vitro conditions

This research was carried out at the Tissue Culture Laboratory of Erzurum Eastern Anatolia Agricultural Research Institute according to the "randomized parcel design" with four replications. In the study, single node cut explants of Van Gogh and Granola potato varieties were used and the concentrations of 0, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1500 and 2000 mg/l NaCl were added to MS media. The plants were kept under long day photoperiod condiditons (16 hours light, 8 hours dark) for 6 weeks. The observations were taken in the plants as follows; the survival rate (%), plantlet height (cm), plant fresh and dry weight (g), number of node and leaves, leaf width and length (mm), stem diameter (mm), root length (mm), number of root and root length (cm). The highest survival rate was obtained from 250 mg/l ve 750 mg/l NaCl including nutrient media (91%) and Van Gogh variety (78%) was found to develop better in saline environments. It was determined that the longest plantlet length in terms of micropropagation was obtained from control media with no salt (28,71 cm) and that Van Gogh variety (25,09 cm) gave longer plantlet height than Granola variety (16,67 cm). The highest number of roots obtained from 250 mg/l including media (73,38) and Van Gogh variety (76,18). The longest roots were obtained from 2000 mg/l NaCl including media (11,36 cm) and Van Gogh variety (9,45 cm). According to all these results, it was determined that Van Gogh variety illustrated more tolerance to salinity environments, but vegetative growth was affected by increasing NaCl concentrations.