Abstract
Sodium chloride is the most widely recognized salt causing saltiness stress and seriously influences plant development when become obvious in extreme concentrations in the soil or water. This study was carried out to inspect the consequence of applying sugarcane bagasse (natural and agricultural wastes) which adsorbs sodium ions on the cytogenetic responses of faba bean under salt stress in vitro and in vivo conditions. In vitro, plants treated with different concentrations (100, 200, 300 mM) of NaCl showed cytotoxic effect reflected by the reduction of mitotic division rate in root tip cells and proliferation of different chromosomal aberrations such as chromosome stickiness, bridges and micronuclei. In vivo, growth performance was evaluated as plant height and leaf area which displayed a remarked reduction proportional to the increase of NaCl concentration compared to control plants. Applying sugarcane bagasse with irrigation water significantly reduce the mito-depressive effect of different concentrations of NaCl in root meristem cells and increase growth parameters in plants compared with the same concentrations without bagasse.