The behaviour of plants from three durum wheat cultivars (Omrabi 5, drought-resistant; Belikh, salt-resistant and Cando, drought- and salt-sensitive) was studied in the presence of various NaCl doses (from 0 to 150 mM) and compared to the behaviour of mature embryo-derived calli exposed to NaCl (from 0 to 300 mM) or to iso-osmotic concentrations of PEG and mannitol. The cultivar Belikh behaved as the more salt-resistant in terms of growth at both level of organisation. However, strategies adopted by whole plant on the one hand, and corresponding calli at the other hand may differ in respect to mineral nutrition and osmotic regulation. While salt stress induced a strong decrease in shoot K concentration, it induced a slight increase in this parameter at the callus level. Sugars appeared as the major compound involved in osmotic adjustment of stressed plants but did not clearly contribute to the decrease of internal osmotic potential at the cell level.