Abstract
Salinity is a major obstacle to wheat production worldwide. Salt-affected soils could be used by improving salt-tolerant genotypes depending upon the genetic variation and salt stress response of adapted and donor wheat germplasm. We used a comprehensive set of morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters and simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker technique with multivariate analysis to accurately demonstrate the phenotypic and genetic variation of 18 wheat genotypes under salinity stress. All genotypes were evaluated without NaCl as a control and with 150 mM NaCl, until the onset of symptoms of death in the sensitive plant (after 43 days of salinity treatment). The results showed that the relative change of the genetic variation was high for all parameters, heritability (>60%), and genetic gain (>20%). Stepwise regression analysis, noting the importance of the root dry matter, relative turgidity, and their respective contributions to the shoot dry matter, indicated their relevance in improving and evaluating the salt-tolerant genotypes of breeding programs. The relative change of the genotypes in terms of the relative turgidity and shoot dry matter during salt stress was verified using clustering methods. For cluster analysis, the genotypes were classified into three groups: tolerant, intermediate, and sensitive, representing five, six, and seven genotypes, respectively. The morphological and genetic distances were significantly correlated based on the Mantel test. Of the 23 SSR markers that showed polymorphism, 17 were associated with almost all examined parameters. Therefore, based on the observed molecular marker-phenotypic trait association, the markers were highly useful in detecting tolerant and sensitive genotypes. Thus, it considers a helpful tool for salt tolerance through marker-assisted selection.
Highlights
Soil salinization and poor water quality are a worldwide problem in crop production
The mean values for most measurements of the 15 doubled haploid lines (DHLs) under salinity treatment were near to the mean values of the moderate salinity check cultivar (Giza-168), excluding the root length (RL), CHL, relative water content (RWC), relative turgidity (RT), and water deficit (WD) traits, which were nearer to Sakha-93 or Gemmeiza-9
The maximum values of all traits obtained from the DHLs were higher than the mean values of the tolerant check cultivar (Sakha-93)
Summary
Soil salinization and poor water quality are a worldwide problem in crop production. A high level of salt reduces growth, motivates leaf damage, and causes the death of the crop. Salinization may threaten the sustainability of crop production and affect human life in areas prone to salinity, which incorporates all of today’s irrigated land [1]. The lack of water in these areas could lead to an increase in the use of brackish water for producing staple crops. Wheat plants (Triticum aestivum L.) are generally sensitive to salinity. It has been demonstrated that the genotypes that are tolerant of salinity can remain alive but the productivity is greatly reduced
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