Physiological response of Kentucky bluegrass calli under NaCl treatment

The effects of NaCl treatment on calli generated from Kentucky bluegrass cultivars Midnight Ⅱ were investigated by measuring calli growth, relative membrane permeability, contents of proline, MDA, and protein and the activities of antioxidant enzymes. The results showed that the calli growth of Midnight Ⅱ was stimulated under low concentration of NaCl whereas it was inhibited under high concentration of NaCl and the browning was observed if NaCl concentration was higher than 1.5%. With the increase of NaCl concentration, MDA and protein content increased firstly and then decreased. However, relative membrane permeability and proline content always increased. The activities of POD, SOD and CAT also increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of NaCl concentration which reached the peaks with the concentrations of 1.5% NaCl. The present study provided useful knowledge for screening salt resistant mutants of kentucky bluegrass.