Characterization of spring wheat genotypes reveals differential salt tolerance potential based on quantitative attributes

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a globally important cereal crop yet, it is production is gradually decreasing due to salinity stress while demand is increasing. Salt stress is an important abiotic stressor affecting wheat from growth to harvest. The current study was conducted to evaluate 20 diverse wheat genotypes for two consecutive growing seasons in 2021-2022 and 2022-23, to assess their salt tolerance potential against four salinity levels (control, 8dS/m, 12dS/m and 16 dS/m). Salinity tolerance among wheat genotypes was assessed on the basis of morphophysiological and yield related traits such as plant height (PH), peduncle length (PL), spike length (SL), flag leaf area (FLA), chlorophyll content (CC), grain length (GL), grain width (GW), grain area (GA), thousand grain weight (TGW) and yield per plant (YPP). A significant genetic diversity was detected among the genotypes based on the evaluated traits. Correlation analysis revealed positive association among all parameters across treatment conditions. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that out of 10 components, only two had greater than 1 eigenvalues and were significant across all treatments, explaining 70.49%, 60.67%, 60.62% and 51.562% of the total variation under T1 (control), T2 (8dS/m), T3 (12dS/m) and T4 (16dS/m) respectively. Additionally, the PCA biplot identified Sadiq-21 (G1), Fakhar-E-Bhkkar (G8) and Nawab-21 (G12) as potential salt tolerant genotypes. In order to produce high yielding and salt tolerant genotypes, future wheat breeding programs may utilize the tolerant genotypes with salt tolerance potential.

Journal

GLOBAL NEST JOURNAL

Year

2025

Volume

27

Issue

9

ISSN

1790-7632

DOI

10.30955/gnj.07769

WoS UID

WOS:001611878900001