Relative salinity tolerance of potato cultivars assessed byin vitro screening

One hundred and thirty European and North American potato cultivars were assayedin vitro for salinity (NaCl) tolerance. A modified single-node cutting bioassay was used in which cultivars were exposed to a range of NaCl levels (0, 40, 80, and 120 mM), in a Murashige and Skoog-based medium, for 1 month. Evaluations were performed twice for each cultivar at each salt level, using five single-node cuttings. Six vegetative growth parameters (shoot and root lengths, fresh and dry weights) were measured at the time of harvest and corrected for differences in cultivar vigor. These relative values were subjected to multivariate cluster analysis. The sum of the relative rankings at 40, 80, and 120 mM NaCl partitioned the cultivars into 8 units. The cultivars Amisk, BelRus, Bintje, Onaway, Sierra, and Tobique were in the most salinity tolerant unit and in the top cluster group for vigor with the exception of Tobique. These cultivars can be recommended for further study.