In Vitro Growth of Tomato Leaf Bit Calli under NaCl Stress

Leaf bit derived callus from four tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mil.) cultivars (CO 2, CO 3, PKM 1, UC 82) were subjected to undergo stress-using NaCl. The survival rate of the leaf bit calli at different concentrations of NaCl (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 %) was noticed and five passages (35 days each) exhibited decline in survival with increasing levels of NaCl and also with increased duration in stress. Beyond 1.0 percent NaCl, the calli survival percentage was declined and the optimum level of adaptation to NaCl ranged between 0.5 and 0.1% NaCl. The fresh and dry weights of the calli stressed with NaCl showed significant variations. The lowest fresh and dry weights were recorded at NaCl concentration of 2.0% in the growth medium. The morphological score was the least (2.20) in CO 2 while the highest in the cultivar UC 82 (4.50) and also the scores declined drastically with the increase of duration in stress.