Puccinellia tenuiflora was grown under the stress conditions of sodium chloride (0~600 mmol/l) and sodium carbonate (0~200 mmol/l) solutions, and thereby the effects of the salts on plant growth and on the state of major ions in the nutrient solutions were studied. It was shown that the stress effect of sodium carbonate on plant growth, root growth in particular, was significantly greater than that caused by sodium chloride. Under the stress of either salt the growth of roots was highly correlated with ...