Assessing the Suitability of Selection Approaches and Genetic Diversity Analysis for Early Detection of Salt Tolerance of Barley Genotypes

Assessment of the salt tolerance of a large genotype collection at the early growth stages may assist in the fast-tracking improvement of salt-tolerant barley genotypes in breeding programs. This study aimed to investigate the ability of traits related to seed germination ability and seedling growth performance with helping of nine sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers to detect the salt tolerance of 70 barley genotypes during the early growth stages. The different genotypes were exposed to three salt concentrations (0, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) and evaluated for salt tolerance by looking at germination percentage, germination index, and mean germination time during eight days as well as the lengths and weights of seedling shoot and root after 21 days from sowing. The results showed that genotypic variations in germination ability and seedling growth performance obviously appeared under 200 and 100 mM NaCl, respectively. The germination traits exhibited a strong correlation among themselves, whereas they had a poor correlation with seedling traits. A strong and positive correlation was only observed for shoot fresh weight with shoot length and root fresh weight under salinity conditions. Principal component analysis revealed that the first two components, which explained 53% of the total variability, succeeded to identify the genotypes with high salt tolerance during only one stage (germination or seedling stage) and both stages. Cluster analysis based on the stress tolerance index of germination and seedling traits grouped 70 genotypes into four key clusters, with genotypes grouped in cluster 1 and cluster 2 being salt tolerant during the germination stage and moderately tolerant during the seedling stage; the opposite was found with the genotypes grouped in cluster 4. According to Ward's method, the salt tolerance of genotypes that ranked as most salt-tolerant (T) or salt-sensitive (S) remained almost unchanged during germination and seedling stages. In contrast, a change in salt tolerance with both stages was found for the genotypes that ranked as moderately salt-tolerant (MT) and salt-sensitive (MS) genotypes. The nine SRAP markers divided the tested genotypes into two distinct clusters, with clusters B had the most T and MT genotypes. Finally, using appropriate statistical methods presented in this study with SRAP markers will be useful for assessing the salt tolerance of a large number of barley genotypes and selecting the genotypes tolerant of and sensitive to salinity at the early growth stage.