s An In Vitro System for Studying the Effect of Salt Stress in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Background: Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important cash crop in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Salinity is a major threat to agriculture globally and is one of the greatest inhibitions with regard to the expansion of cultivated land. The development of salt-tolerant varieties will be of great help in increasing crop yield by bringing newer areas of land under cultivation which are otherwise considered unfit owing to high salinity. Objective: The present work was undertaken to assess the suitability of tissue culture systems, which provide better control over conditions of growth, for identifying salt tolerant varieties. Methods: Groundnut plants were grown under both in vitro and in vivo conditions under salt stress. Few biochemical parameters were analyzed under both conditions. Results: It was found that there was an increase in the biochemical parameters like phenolic compounds, hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase enzyme and proteins in the salt-treated plants. The trends were similar in both cases except for a set of marginally higher values in the in vitro cultures. Conclusion: The results point towards the potential of plant tissue culture system as effective and reliable for carrying out salt tolerance studies in groundnut. The system is easy to control so that tolerance potential of the plants can be well assessed.