Effects of seedling age and size on chloride accumulation by juvenile citrus seedlings treated with sodium chloride under glasshouse conditions

Abstract

Chloride accumulation by juvenile citrus seedlings treated with sodium chloride for 56 days, using either nutrient solution culture (50 mM NaCl) or pot culture (75 mM NaCl) techniques under glasshouse conditions, was investigated in relation to seedling age. Ranking of cultivars on the basis of leaf chloride concentrations varied according to the age of seedlings examined. Leaf chloride concentrations of 6-, 5-, 4- and 3-month-old seedlings of eight cultivars examined in solution culture decreased with seedling age and were negatively correlated with seedling dry weight within some cultivars. Cultivar differences in leaf chloride concentrations, which occurred for all age groups, were negatively correlated with shoot growth and seedling dry weight for 5-month-old seedlings only. Leaf chloride concentrations of seedlings treated with NaCl in pot culture also changed with the age of seedlings (5, 17- and 29-monthsold) and varied between cultivars, with significant cultivar x age interactions. The effect of seedling size on chloride accumulation was investigated using nutrient solution culture. Six-month-old seedlings of four varieties were treated with NaCl (50 mM) for 56 days. Two size classes were obtained by growing seedlings at two densities before salt treatment. Small seedlings had greater shoot chloride concentrations than equivalent large seedlings and cultivar ranking, based on shoot chloride concentrations, changed with seedling size. Cultivar differences in leaf chloride concentrations were negatively correlated with seedling growth and dry weight for small seedlings but not for large seedlings. Seedling size had no effect on root chloride concentrations. The results suggest that screening very small seedlings for chloride exclusion is not feasible since rankings based on leaf chloride concentrations did not agree with documented data for grafted trees. There appeared to be a critical or threshold seedling age or size at or above which rankings for shoot chloride accumulation by good chloride excluders were consistent with documented field data. The results are discussed in relation to screening citrus hybrids for chloride exclusion under glasshouse conditions.