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Germination Experiment:

      144 Brassica napus cv. Westar seeds were put into 6 Petri dishes (24 seeds/Petri dish) for each NaCl concentration (0, 2, 5, 8, 10, and 20 g/L). This was repeated for the four transgenic lines. Salt (2, 5, 8, 10, or 20 g) was weighed and poured into bottles where 1L of water was added for each bottle. Using a pipette, 3mL of the corresponding salt concentration was put into each Petri dish. The Petri dishes were then sealed  with parafilm to prevent water evaporation. After 6 days, the number of fully germinated seeds   was counted.  Pictures were taken with a digital camera. All of the seeds were then autoclaved before disposal. The experiment was repeated twice and the results from both were used for the analysis in the result section.                                                                                                                                                  

Vegetative Growth Experiment:

      21 Brassica napus cv. Westar seeds were planted in 7x7cm square pots. After 5 days when most of the plants had germinated, 15 of the most similar plants were chosen to water with the salt (3 for each NaCl concentration at 0, 2, 5, 10, or 20 g/L, see Figure 1 also). This was repeated for the four transgenic lines. On the first five days after germination each plant was watered with 40mL of their corresponding salt concentration but after that the plants were watered with their corresponding solution once a week and tap water on the other days. After 3 weeks, pictures about growing plants were taken. After 4.5 weeks, one plant from each line treated with different salt concentrations was cut above the soil and the fresh weight of those plants was recorded. The remaining plants were allowed to grow to flowering (bagged to avoid the pollen mixing after  flowering). Pictures of the flowering plants were taken with a digital camera. The seeds of those plants will be collected when they are ready. All the plants and soil used in the experiment were autoclaved before disposal.  

Variables

            Germination Experiment                       Vegetative Growth Experiment