Salt tolerance in Solanum kurzianum and S. tuberosum cvs Alpha and Russet Burbank

The cultivated potato Solanum tuberosum cvs Alpha and Russet Burbank and the wild species S. kurzianum were compared with respect to salt tolerance. Plants of the wild species were found to be more salt tolerant than those of the cultivated species since their growth was less impaired by the salinity, although they accumulated more sodium and less potassium ions in the shoot. Unlike the whole plant, callus derived from the wild plants was not more tolerant than that from the cultivated species. Differences in the responses to salinity between cultivated and wild plants, and between the whole plants and calli derived from them are discussed. Based on these differences and the similarity of the physiological responses to salt stress between S. kurzianum and the wild salt-tolerant relatives of tomato, the former is suggested as a potential source of genes for increasing the salt tolerance of potato.