Characterization of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions using morpho-physiological traits under varying levels of salinity stress at seedling stage

Abiotic stresses are the major stressors affecting wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production worldwide. The world population is increasing continuously. It is very difficult to feed the population because one-third world’s population consumes wheat as a staple food. Among all abiotic stresses, salinity is one that led to a drastic reduction in wheat crop fitness and productivity. Thus, understanding the effects of salinity stress becomes indispensable for wheat improvement programs which have depended mainly on the genetic variations present in the wheat genome through conventional breeding. Therefore, an experiment was conducted using a complete randomized design with four replications, to determine the selection criteria for salinity-tolerant germplasm based on morphophysiological traits at the seedling stage. Three levels of salt solutions, i.e., 4, 8, and 12 dSm–1 were applied and the performance of different genotypes under these three salinities levels was observed. Results depicted that leaf water content and relative water content were correlated with each other. Notably, selection based on these traits increased the performance of other characters. The genotypes G11, G13, G18, G22, and G36 performed best in the salinity stress. So, these genotypes are considered salinity-tolerant genotypes. The genotypes G4, G17, G19, G30, and G38 performed worst in the stress and these were salinity-susceptible genotypes. From the results of the principal component (PC) analysis, the first five PCs were indicated to have a substantial genetic variation from the total of 14 PCs. These PCs showed 75, 73, 65.324, and 65.162% of total variation under normal, salinity level 4, 8, and 12 dSm–1, respectively. Stomatal conductance, fresh shoot weight and fresh root weight, and dry shoot weight and dry root weight were not significant and negatively associated with all other traits studied, except for relative water and leaf water content. Overall, the results suggested that selection based on leaf water content and relative water content at the seedling stage would genetically improve salinity tolerance. Genotypes with good performance under salt stress conditions may be useful in future breeding programs and will be effective in developing high-yielding salt-tolerant wheat varieties.