Response of Eragrostis tef to Salinity and Acute Water Shortage

Summary In hydroponic culture solutions Tef ( Eragrostis tef ), unlike some other species of Eragrostis and related eragrostoid grasses such as Leptochloa fusca , was found to be salt sensitive and unable to withstand a major reduction in its leaf relative water content. This salt sensitivity was found to be related to an inability to restrict the influx of sodium and chloride into the shoots. Salinity induced an increase in leaf proline concentrations in tef, but only a small increase in glycinebetaine levels. When pot-grown plants of tef were subjected to drought there was little change in leaf water, solute or turgor potentials until the soil had reached 20–30% of its maximum water holding capacity. Below 22% soil saturation there was a rapid and irreversible loss of turgor and leaf water. Photosynthesis and transpiration declined gradually as the soil dried out, except that both parameters showed a sudden decrease at about 20 % soil saturation. In these conditions there was a sudden increase in organic acid, proline and sugar concentrations in the leaves. Glycinebetaine concentrations were not affected by drought in tef. Sources of both salt and drought resistance characters can be found in species more or less closely related to tef, and may offer the possibility of improving the stress tolerance of this crop through conventional breeding or somatic cell techniques.