ORGANISM AND CELL LEVELS OF SALT TOLERANCE IN 2 COTTON CULTIVARS (133AND INEBR-85)

We studied the involvement of systems of the cell and organism levels in formation of salt tolerance in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) of tw o cultivars (133 and INEBR-85). Plants of the INEBR-85 cultivar posses s greater resistance to chloride salinity. Callus and suspension cultu res obtained from hypocotyls of seedlings of both cultivars were chara cterized by the same constitutive tolerance. Prolonged culturing of ca lluses in the presence of salt showed that the 133 strain grew success fully on a medium containing 1% NaCl, whereas the INEBR-85 strain exhi bited significant inhibition of growth and subsequent death. This mean s that callus tissues of plants of the less resistant cultivar possess greater salt tolerance. It is concluded on this basis that different resistance of the investigated cotton cultivars to salinity is determi ned by organism rather than cell systems of resistance. Possible mecha nisms of salt tolerance with regulation realized on the level of the w hole plant are discussed in this connection.