Journal of Plant Sciences 2015; 3(4): 216-224 Published online July 24, 2015 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/jps) doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20150304.18 ISSN: 2331-0723 (Print); ISSN: 2331-0731 (Online) Morpho-physiological Performance of Selected Somaclones (SC) Which were Produced in Vitro Salinity Stress in the Field for Two Sequential Years Mst. Kohinoor Begum 1 , Md. Shariful Islam 1 , Md. Obaidul Islam 2, * 1 Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute, Pabna, Bangladesh 2 Dept. of Crop Botany, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh Email address: kohinoorsamia@yahoo.com (Mst. K. Begum) To cite this article: Mst. Kohinoor Begum, Md. Shariful Islam, Md. Obaidul Islam. Morpho-physiological Performance of Selected Somaclones (SC) Which were Produced in Vitro Salinity Stress in the Field for Two Sequential Years. Journal of Plant Sciences. Vol. 3, No. 4, 2015, pp. 216-224. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20150304.18 Abstract: The experiments were carried out at the farm of Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute Ishurdi, Pabna, Bangladesh during 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 cropping seasons for the production of somaclones in vitro to select salinity tolerant lines of sugarcane. Sugarcane varieties Isd 28, Isd 35, Isd 36, Isd 37 and Isd 38 were used for selection of salinity tolerant lines. Different levels of salt were used with MS medium for in vitro plantlet regeneration. The in vitro selected somaclones were evaluated in the field for two sequential years. Somaclones SC4, SC7, SC8 of Isd 28, SC1, SC7, SC9 of Isd 35, SC4, SC6 of Isd 36, SC3, SC9 ,SC10 of Isd 37 and SC3, SC7, SC8 of Isd 38 performed better in morpho-physiological performance at field condition in two sequential years. So those lines should be considered as salinity tolerant lines for further study. Keywords: Morpho-physiological, Somaclone, Sugarcane, Salinity Stress, Sequential Year 1. Introduction Salinity is one of the most widespread soil degradation processes on the Earth. Soil salinisation affects an estimated 1 to 3 million hectares in Europe, mainly in the Mediterranean countries. It is regarded as a major cause of desertification and therefore is a serious form of soil degradation being salinisation and sodification among the major degradation processes endangering the potential use of European soils. For instance, in Spain 3% of the 3.5 million hectares of irrigated land is severely affected, reducing markedly its agricultural potential while another 15% is under serious risk. Other examples of salt-affected soil in Europe are the Caspian Basin, the Ukraine, and the Carpathian Basin (Hungary) (Bruno Ladeiro, 2012). Some of the most serious problems occur in semi-arid regions associated with the great river systems of South-East Asia. In Bangladesh, over 30% of the net cultivable area lies in the coastal zone of Bay of Bengal, of which approximately 53% is affected by varying degrees of salinity. The salt affected area in the coastal zone of the country was about 0.83 million ha in 1966-76, which expanded to 3.1 million ha over the last two decades (Kader, 2006). In addition, more area in that zone is expected to become saline affected in future due to increase in sea water level as a consequence of the greenhouse effect. The other concern is that the area under irrigation is increasing worldwide day-by-day allowing more area to be affected by salinity stress. As estimated by FAO, about 20-30 million ha of irrigated lands worldwide were seriously damaged in 2002 due to the build-up of salts and every year 0.25-0.50 million ha of irrigated lands worldwide are lost from production due to salts build-up (Martinez-Beltran and Manzur, 2005). The advantage of somaclonal variability due to tissue culture is high frequency, mostly of gene mutations in somaclones and the experimental opportunities available for selection of cells with altered biochemical features (Maralappanavar et al., 2000). Somaclonal variation in combination with in vitro mutagenesis can be beneficial for the isolation of salinity and drought tolerant lines in a short duration employing in vitro selection (Samad et al., 2001).