The Effect of Sodium Chloride on Some Metabolic and Fine Structural Changes during the Greening of Etiolated Leaves

Plants respond to a saline environment by metabolic and morphological changes (16, 17, 20). Most of the information on salt effects stems from work on plants adapted to saline conditions, the halophytes, or from mesophytes which were grown under conditions of increased salinity for prolonged periods. In the present work some short-term effects of saline conditions on greening leaves of an unadapted mesophytic plant were studied. Exposure of the leaves to salt-containing media introduced changes in chlorophyll content, rate of respiratory 02 uptake, chloroplast fine structure, and number of mitochondria. These changes may be of interest in relation to problems of salt tolerance and adaptation. MATERIAL AND METHODS