Genetic variation for salt and waterlogging tolerance of Acacia auriculiformis.

Abstract

The results are reported of pot experiments with Acacia auriculiformis seedlings in a glasshouse, testing 30 provenances for salt tolerance, and 16 provenances for waterlogging tolerance. Provenances were from natural populations in Queensland and Northern Territory (Australia) and Papua New Guinea, and naturalized Thai populations. In general, provenances showed high tolerance to both salinity (test run for 51 days) and waterlogging (71 days), but there was wide variation between them. Promising provenances were identified on the basis of 2 indices: relative growth rate (height); and salt damage index (assessed from number of phyllodes shed and final height). The 2 indices ranked the provenances differently, so that promising provenances were not the same for both.