Abstract
'NERICA' is new African rice, developed by WARDA in 1990s. It is known that NERICA shows tolerance for various stresses such as disease and drought, but physiological and biochemical studies on salt stress response of this new rice have not been done. The purpose of this investigation is to clarify the mechanism of salt tolerance in NERICA using 7 cultivars.
The degree of growth inhibition caused by NaCl was small in NERICA, except NERICA 2, as compared with japonica Nipponbare. Na content of leaf blades was high in salt sensitive cultivars, such as NERICA 2 and Nipponbare. After the salt stress treatment, polyamine content of leaf blades differed with the degree of salt tolerance of rice seedlings. These results suggested that the salt tolerance of NERICA might associate not only with the regulation of Na absorption but also with their ability to maintain leaf polyamine level under salt stress.
