Evaluation of Some Egyptian Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Cultivars under Salinity Stress

A. Gadallah, Maha; I. Milad, Sanaa; Mabrook, Y. M., Mabrook, Y. M.; Y. Abo Yossef, Amira; M. A., Gouda

doi:10.21608/asejaiqjsae.2017.3471

Evaluation of Some Egyptian Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Cultivars under Salinity Stress

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Assistant Researcher, Wheat Research Dept., Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt.

² Professor of Biotechnology and Plant Breeding and Dean of Crop Science Dept., Fuc. of Agri. (El-Shatby), Alex. University, Egypt.

³ Professor of Genetics and Dean of Genetics Dept., Fuc. of Agri. (El-Shatby), Alex. University, Egypt.

⁴ Emeritus Professor of Genetics, Genetics of Dept., Fuc. Of Agri. (El-Shatby), Alex. University, Egypt.

⁵ Emeritus Professor of Crop Science, Wheat Research Dept., Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Egypt.

10.21608/asejaiqjsae.2017.3471

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine salinity stress tolerance of sixteen Egyptian local wheat cultivars, using three salinity levels. These cultivars were grown in pots under greenhouse conditions, and subjected to three salinity levels (tap water or control, 4000 ppm and 8000 ppm). Factorial experiment in CRD design with three replicates was applied. Some agronomical (plant height, number of days to heading, number of spikes/pot, number of grains/spike, thousand grain weight and grain yield) and physiological traits (Na⁺, K⁺ concentrations and K⁺/Na⁺ ratio) were determined. The results revealed that there were significant variations with all agronomical and physiological traits, as influenced by salinity levels, cultivars and the interaction between them, except number of grains/spike which was not affected by the interaction. The results also showed that the wheat cultivars responded differently either within the same, or among, the salinity levels for all studied traits except number of grains/spike but in general, all studied agronomical traits were decreased with the increasing of salinity levels. The cultivars Sahel 1 and Sakha 93 recorded the highest value of GY in high salinity level (8000 ppm) (35.20 and 35.06 g/pot, respectively) with the lowest percent of reduction (35.28% and 34.54% respectively). Na⁺ concentration increased, while K⁺ content decreased with increasing salinity levels. K⁺/Na⁺ ratio was decreased under highl salinity levels. Sids 1 had the lowest Na⁺ raise percent (70.23%) and the highest K⁺/Na⁺ ratio (0.46) with 8000 ppm, followed by Sakha 93 (90.64 %) and (0.44). Results of SSI revealed that there were variations among the 16 investigated wheat cultivars in their response to salinity stress. Cultivars Sakha 93 and Sahel 1 recorded the lowest value of SSI (0.69 and 0.71 respectively). Correlation between GY and K⁺, K⁺/Na⁺recorded significantly positive relation (r =0.61 and 0.51 respectively). In contrast correlation between GYand SSI recorded significantly negative relation (r = -0.92). In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that wheat genotypes Sakha 93 and Sahel 1 can be selected to grow under salinity levels of irrigation water. The genotypes Sids 1, Shandweel 1, Misr 2 and Misr 1 were moderate tolerant to salinity stress. in contrast, the cultivars Gemmiza 9 and Gemmiza 11 were the most sensitive cultivars. K⁺/Na⁺ ratio and SSI are good parameters and they can be used as useful selection criteria for screening the salt tolerance in terms of grain yield among genotypes.

Keywords