The limits of sodium/calcium interactions in plant growth

The amelioration of Na toxicity by supplementation of Ca in the growth medium was investigated in wheat with the aims of (1) identifying the Ca-dependent processes that determine the growth responses and (2) defining the limits to Ca effects on these processes. Growth of wheat seedlings was strongly inhibited by 150 mM NaCl but improved as the Ca concentration in the nutrient medium was increased up to 2.34 mM. Further increasing Ca to 10 mM did not increase growth, nor did foliar application of Ca. Even at high concentrations of Ca, the maximum growth was only approximately 50% of the growth at low salinity. We conclude that the main component of improved growth caused by Ca was via its apoplastic effects on the transport of Na and K across the root plasma membrane, rather than by increasing root or shoot Ca concentrations. There was no evidence that high salinity inhibited Ca uptake to the shoot. The limits to improvement of growth by Ca appear to relate to the fact that, although Ca is able to ameliorate the toxicity caused by high intracellular Na, it is not able to overcome the osmotic deficits associated with high salinity.