Adaptative mechanisms in sunflower irrigated with salt waters

Soil salinity is one of the most widespread environmental stress which affects the growth and productivity of crops, and it is typical of arid and semiari regions of the world. The discovery of crop mechanisms for adaptation to salt stress would permit to cultivate "non-vocated" areas and to use saline waters for irrigation. In this research we have studied the effects of irrigation with seawater at the rate of 10% on two ecotypes of sunflower belonging to the cv. Katharina. The results indicate that in plant the response mechanisms to the treatment involve the detoxification of activated oxygen species.