Rice (Oryza sativa L., Wuyunjing 7) seeds, kindly
supplied by Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Jiangsu Province, China, were surfacesterilized
with 5 % NaClO for 15 min, rinsed extensively
in distilled water, and then dried. These seeds
were presoaked for 16 h in different concentrations of
HRW and then transferred to Petri dishes containing
6 ml of distilled water (H2O) or 100 mM NaCl. All
seeds were kept at 28 °C in a growth chamber with
12/12 h day/night regimes at 150 μmolm−2
s
−1 irradiation
for further experiments. After 3 days or the
indicated time of salinity treatment, the samples were
harvested, growth parameters were also determined,
and material was frozen at −80 °C for further analysis.