Abstract
Salinity is a major abiotic stress that affects plant growth and development and leads to crop yield loss. Many crop species are more sensitive to salinity stress at the seed germination stage than at other developmental stages. Some studies have shown that sunflower is tolerant to salinity to a certain degree. However, no systematic screening data for sunflower germplasms are available for salinity stress. In this study, 552 sunflower germplasms with different genetic backgrounds were evaluated for salt tolerance. Among them, 30 and 53 sunflower germplasms were identified as highly salt-tolerant and salt-tolerant germplasms, respectively, while 80 and 23 were grouped as salt-sensitive and highly salt-sensitive materials, respectively. Of all the traits tested, the germination index and the germination vigor index were the two most reliable traits, showing the highest correlation with salt tolerance during the seed germination stage of sunflower. Thus, a highly efficient and reliable method for evaluating salinity tolerance of sunflower seed germination was established. These results provided a good foundation for studying salt-tolerance mechanisms and breeding highly salt-tolerant sunflower cultivars.
Highlights
Salinity is a major abiotic stress that affects plant growth and development, resulting in crop yield loss
It has been reported that salt stress can lead to a significant reduction in germination rate, as it reduces the ability of plants to uptake water from the soil, resulting in the growth inhibition and yield loss
The phenotypic analysis under salt stress revealed that sunflower seedling growth and development after germination were more sensitive to salinity relative to seed germination
Summary
Salinity is a major abiotic stress that affects plant growth and development, resulting in crop yield loss. We establish a high-quality reference for the screening and evaluation of salt-tolerant sunflower germplasms at the seed germination stage. Evaluation methods for the screening of salt-tolerant germplasms have been developed in various plant species at the seed germination stage. Wu et al applied multiple regression to establish a quantitative evaluation model for salt tolerance of rapeseed inbred lines at the germination stage[17]. 552 sunflower germplasms (inbred lines) were phenotyped for a variety of traits at the seed germination stage, and a quantitative evaluation model developed from multiple regression analysis was established for salt tolerance. The germination index and the germination vigor index were found to be the two most reliable traits for salt tolerance of sunflower at the germination stage based on correlation analysis. These results improve the current basis for sunflower breeding and the exploration of salt tolerance mechanisms
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