Effect of various levels of ascorbic acid pretreatment on alleviation of salt stress in salt sensitive sugarcane genotype SPF-213

A study was conducted in the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan during the year 2011. Effect of various levels of ascorbic acid pretreatment (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mM) was studied on NaCl tolerance of in vitro-grown plants of a salt sensitive sugarcane cultivar SPF-213. Callus cultures (60-days old) as well as in vitrogrown plants were transferred to MS medium supplemented with various NaCl levels (0-120 mM; 9 treatments) after ascorbic acid pretreatment. All ascorbic acid pretreatments to callus culture generally had a positive effect on sugarcane callus cultures as well as plants in terms of fresh weights, number of shoots/roots per culture vessels, shoot/root length, soluble protein contents and antioxidant enzyme activities. However, the best response was observed at 0.25mM and 0.5mM ascorbic acid pretreatment to callus cultures and in vitro grown plants, respectively. These morphological as well as biochemical parameters showed a positive effect of ascorbic acid pretreatment in enhancing salt tolerance in sugarcane.