Physiological quality and expression of isocitrate-lyase enzyme in soybean seeds submitted to saline stress

Abstract

The period of germination is a determinant factor that influences the establishment of seedlings in field, mainly in those regions with adverse climate conditions. Due to this, the breeding programs has creating or adapting new cultivars for these conditions, being the saline soils one of the mainly concerns. Facing this, the objective in this work was to verify the physiological quality and the expression of the enzyme isocitrate-lyase in soybean seeds submitted to saline stress, were used seeds of five cultivars of soybean (Savana, Conquista, Valiosa, BRS Celeste and Baliza), and five saline concentrations (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mol.m-3 of NaCl) and with these seeds were realized the germination test, realizing the first count of germination with five days and the final count with eight days. Was also evaluated the enzymatic expression of isocitrate-lyase. It was conclude that, all cultivars presented lower percentage of germination when placed in conditions of higher concentration of salinity. The cultivar Savana is that which presents higher tolerance to the salinity and the cultivar Conquista is the most susceptible. The expression of isocitrate-lyase varies with the increase of saline concentration. The soybean seeds of cultivars Savana and Conquista presented higher expression of isocitrate-lyase enzyme according the increase of salinity.