General Outlook of Identified Genomic Regions/QTLs Associated with Salt Tolerance Traits in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Salinity stress declines plant growth and its efficiency, which is leading to a substantial reduction in crop yield. Presently, the worldwide challenges are to meet the food consumption demand, along with the decreasing crop productivity per unit area at the same time of stress environment. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal grain crops and losses gain yield exceeds the 60% due to salinity stress. Now, it is imperative to develop a comprehensive understanding of salt tolerance contrivances and the assortment of reliable tolerance indices is crucial for breeding salt-tolerant wheat cultivars. The specific chromosomal location of these salt-tolerant genes or genetic loci has also been partially characterized through QTLs mapping that cannot use directly in breeding programs. This information helps the efficient transfer of these genes into other crop cultivars through molecular breeding tools. This review highlights the using association techniques for identifying novel QTLs/genomic regions associated with salinity tolerance in wheat that can help to improve salt tolerance in wheat through marker-assisted breeding programs.