Salt-tolerant Germplasm Creation and Evaluation of Catalpa bungei Based on Embryogenic Callus Mutagenesis
Catalpa bungei is a deciduous hardwood tree native to China with the advantages of fast-growing,salt resistance and excellent wood qualities.It is an excellent tree species for soil restoration and protection in coastal beach and saline land.Therefore,in order to improve the salt tolerance of C.bungei,it is the key scientific issue to create novel salt-tolerant germplasms and breeding new salt-tolerant varieties.In the present study,we created nov-el salt-tolerant germplasms using 137Cs-γ rays mutagenesis and targeted screening technologies of embryogenic callus of C.bungei'Zhongshan5'.Results showed that with the increases of radiation dose and salt concentration,the browning rate of embryogenic callus gradually increased,while the proliferation rate decreased.Therefore,the threshold of radiation dose for mutagenesis was 40 Gy,and the threshold of salt tolerance screening was 300 mmol/L NaCl.Subsequently,we radiated the embryogenic callus of'Zhongshan5'using 137Cs-γ rays at 40 Gy,and then transferred them to regenerating medium containing 300 mmol/L NaCl.After differentiation and regeneration of embryogenic callus,65 individuals were produced.Three new salt-tolerant lines were selected through sec-ondary salt tolerant evaluation at the seedling stage.This study would not only provide new germplasms for devel-oping new salt-tolerant varieties,but also lay a foundation for the salt-tolerant mechanism analysis and related genes cloning in C.bungei.