Developmental Stability as a Potential Tool in the Early Detection of Salinity Stress in Wheat

Abstract

Measures of developmental stability (DS) have been proposed as sensitive monitors of stress in plants. Here we consider a number of DS measures for potential use as indicators of salt stress in wheat. We use two wheat cultivars, Triticum aestivum L. cv. Goldmark and Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum cv. Kronos, and compare their response to salt using indices of fitness (plant mass, height) and DS. Measures of translational asymmetry, measured as the error in the predicted relationship between node order and internode distance, were sensitive to low levels of salinity that did not result in fitness changes in a salt‐sensitive cultivar. In a cultivar with greater salt tolerance, changes in fitness characters occurred at lower salt concentrations than did changes in translational asymmetry. Bilateral asymmetry of the seed head was not altered by salt stress. Translational asymmetry may provide a method for monitoring salinity stress in monocot cultivars with relatively low salt tolerance.