THE RESPONSE TO NaCl AND IONIC CONTENT OF SELECTED SALT–TOLERANT AND NORMAL LINES OF THREE LEGUME FORAGE SPECIES IN SAND CULTURE

S ummary Selected NaCl‐tolerant lines of Trifolium alexandrinum L., Medicago sativa L., and Trifolium protease L. produced significantly greater dry matter than unselected control lines after 4 weeks of growth in sand culture with different NaCl concentrations. Tolerant lines of all three species generally contained less Na + but more Cl − in their shoots than normal lines, although these differences were not statistically significant. Selected lines also contained less K + in their shoots than unselected lines. Ca 2+1 distribution was similar in T. allexandrinum and M. sativa but not in T. pratense , in which the tolerant line had significantly higher Ca 2+ in the shoot than the unselected line.