Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research center of Southern Khorasan, Iran
2 . Member of scientific board, Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran
3 Member of scientific board, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Birjand, Iran
4 M.Sc., Agricultural and Natural Resources Research center of Southern Khorasan, Iran
Abstract
To evaluate the salt tolerance characteristics of 17 newly modified wheat lines, a field experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design at the Research Farm of Birjand Agricultural Faculty from 2009 to 2011, with the EC of irrigation water and soil saturated paste extract of 8.93 and 10.81 dS.m-1, respectively. The treatments included the 17 new wheat lines plus three salt tolerant cultivars (Kavir, Arg, Bam) as check treatments with three replications. The treatments were irrigated with low saline water at early stages of growth (2-3 leaves) to provide a better establishment and then were treated using the high saline water (8.93 dS.m-1) till the end of the crop physiological maturity growth stage. Composite analysis of variance showed that cultivars and lines were significantly different (p<0.01) in regard to days to heading (DHE), days to maturity (DMA), plant height (PLH), peduncle length, seed weight and grain yield. Correlation analysis showed significant positive relations between grain yield and thousand kernel weight (TKW) (r = 0.42*) as well as spike length (r = 0.48*), while there was a negative relationship with DHE. Amongst yield components, grain weight showed a higher role in grain yield (YLD) under salinity stress compared with other traits. Cluster analysis classified the genotypes into three categories (tolerant, moderate and sensitive). Under the imposed salinity situation, analysis showed that the lines 8, 9, 16, 17 had the highest yields of 5.27, 5.22, 5.03 and 5.09 tons per hectare, respectively, which were even greater than the performance of tolerant cultivars. Results of this study highlight that under current situation of the study area, the above selected lines are nominated as salt tolerant lines suitable for wheat mass grain production as well as wheat breeding programs.
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