ADAPTIVE DETERMINISM DURING SALT-ADAPTATION IN SORGHUM-BICOLOR

During adaptation to salinity, plants of Sorghum bicolor showed malfor mations affecting the leaves in development (DPL). At the end of the a daptation process, the plants were regrouped according to their patter n of DPL-response. The distribution of the plant population in differe nt patterns depended on environmental conditions. However, a positive relationship between the frequency of a pattern and its rate of develo pment has been found. Similarly, a negative relation between the frequ ency of a pattern and the rate of senescence for the same pattern has been observed. The results reveal the existence of an orientation of t he plant response towards the patterns with highest developmental rate and lowest rate of senescence. This property is defined as 'adaptive determinism'. Results indicate that the NaCl acts as a trigger for ada ptation to a whole range of environmental perturbations. This suggests that adaptation to salinity is not a pre-programed response of the pl ants, and may be related to learning processes occurring in animals.