Determination of drought tolerance using root activities in Robinia pseudoacada ‘Idaho’ transformed with mtl-D gene

Idaho locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Idaho’ is an exotic multi-purpose tree used in landscaping, soil and water conservation, fodder sources and others. To improve its drought tolerance for reclaiming arid land, five lines of transformed mtl-D gene, as osmotic regulator in plant cells, have been selected and managed to determine their drought tolerance under experimental conditions. Qualitative and quantitative variables of transformed plants were studied. The critical value of drought tolerance was determined by detecting the 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) reductants in roots and soil water content (SWC). The critical value for drought tolerance was SWC 6% while for the control plants the critical SWC was 8%; a moderate level of SWC is 13% and the highest SWC for plant endurance was 18%. The method proved to be reliable and sensitive in the evaluation of drought tolerance for forest trees.