The water stress and the salinity in the soil are the most important causes of low grain yield of rice and wheat in Brazil, when cultivated on upland conditions. Selection for new cultivars showing tolerance to salt effects seems to be one of the methods to solve this problem. The osmotic agent usually used to this purpose is sodium chloride. One experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions using nutrient solutions. The rice genotypes utilized were: upland cultivars IAC-25, IAC-47, IAC-164, IAC-165, IAC-1246, Batatais, Dourado Precoce, Pérola and Pratão Precoce; and irrigated cultivars IAC-120, IAC-435, IAC-899, IAC-1278, IAC-4440 and IR-841. The wheat genotypes utilizated were: upland cultivars IAC-5, IAS-55, Siete Cerros and Paraguay-281. Nutrient solutions aeration and light for the seedlings were provided continuously. Six levels of sodium chloride (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.8 molal) or osmotic potentials of 0.00, -0.47, -0.93, -1.39, -1.85 and -3.75 MPa were applied int the nutrient solutions. The plastic pots containing the treatment solutions were placed in waterbath with temperature of 30 ± 1°C, for rice, and 25 ± 1°C, for wheat. The rice and wheat seedlings were cultivated during 48 hours in distilled water and after this period -they were changed to pots, containing nutrient solutions with different sodium chloride concentrations and pH = 6.0. The rice plants were cultivated during twelve days and the wheat plants, ten days. The longest seminal root lengths, the aereal part heights and dry weights of plants were determined. Visual evaluations of root diameter and leaf color were done for all plants in the different treatments. The length of the longest seminal root was the best parameter in relation to the others to evaluate the tolerance to salinity for a breeding program. According to the variations in percentage of the longest seminal root length, as the sodium chloride concentration increased in the solutions, the rice cultivars IAC-165, Pratão Precoce, Dourado Precoce, IAC-164 and IAC-120 were considered tolerant; IAC-1246, Pérola, IAC-25, Batatais and IAC-47, moderately tolerant; IAC-899, IAC-435, IAC-4440 and IR-841, moderately sensitive and the cultivar IAC-1278, sensitive. The wheat cultivars IAS-55 and Siete Cerros were considered more tolerant than the cultivars IAC-5 and Paraguay-281 up to the concentration of 0.2 molal of sodium chloride. The developed technique was useful to select plants more tolerant to sodium chloride.
salinity; water; osmotic potential; root and leaf length