Three wheat cultivars’ responses to NaCl treatments: changes in lipid peroxidation, cell viability, hydrogen peroxide content and antioxidant defence parameters

The responses of lipid peroxidation, antioxidant defence parameters, the content of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and cell viability were investigated in callus cultures of Triticum aestivum L. (wheat) ‘Tekirdag’, ‘Pehlivan’ and ‘Flamura-85’ cultivars under various NaCl concentrations (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15 M). According to two-way ANOVA, the interaction between NaCl treatments and cultivars on the antioxidant enzyme activity and malondialdehyde (MDA), proline and H 2 O 2 content were statistically significant. Statistically significant differences between cultivars were also detected using two-way ANOVA analyses of antioxidant enzyme activities, MDA and H 2 O 2 content. The activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (POX), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) increased under salt treatments, except for catalase activity in Tekirdag. Proline and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) content increased significantly with NaCl concentrations whereas the reduced glutathione (GSH) increase was not statistically significant. GSH/GSSG ratios decreased under salt treatments in all three wheat cultivars as compared to the control. MDA and H 2 O 2 content increased, but the viabilities of callus cultures decreased as salt concentrations increased. Based on the cellular responses of three different wheat calli against salinity, Flamure-85 was the best one because of its superior antioxidant defence system.