In vitro Responses of the Lotus corniculatus cv. 'AC Langille' to NaCl-induced Salt Stress

Lotus corniculatus L. is a legume plant that has a very important economic value for ecology and agriculture and is also used as a forage plant worldwide due to its high nutritional value. The tolerance of L. corniculatus to salt stress is lower than of other Lotus species (such as Lotus tenuis). Since breeding studies focused on high nutritional value and feed efficiency while developing new commercial varieties, tolerance to limiting environmental factors such as salt stress remained low in these varieties. However, studies on determining the tolerance of these commercial varieties to salt stress have been limited to date. This study was conducted under in vitro conditions with 4 replications, according to a completely randomized trial design, in order to examine the effect of different salt stress levels on germination and initial seedling growth period in 'AC Langille', a commercial variety of L. corniculatus. For this purpose, the seeds of L. corniculatus were planted in Murashige and Skoog/Gamborg (MG) medium containing NaCl at three different concentrations (0, 40, and 80 mM). Germination and growth parameters were calculated. According to the research results, it was determined that the applied NaCl concentrations had a statistically significant effect on germination (except mean germination time) and growth parameters, and negatively affected both germination (except mean germination time) and growth. It has been observed that salt stress affects the root more negatively than the shoot. It was observed that 80 mM NaCl concentration reduced the seedling vigor index by 41.27%.