Germination and vigor of soybean genotypes seeds under saline stress

Soybean stands out among the crops with the greatest application of transgenics, mainly for tolerance to herbicides, pests, and diseases; however, studies on salt stress in genetically modified plants are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the tolerance of both traditional and genetically modified soybean genotypes to saline stress during the germination and seedling phases. Seeds of 13 soybean genotypes were selected (five traditional (BRS Carna??ba, BRS P??rola, BRS Tracaj??, BRS Sambaiba, and FTR-4389) and eight transgenic (BRS Sambaiba RR, BRS-333-RR, BRS- 9820-RR, PAS-13565-74-RR, PAS-11711-007-RR, BRS-918-IPRO, AS-3810-IPRO, and M-8210-IPRO)), subjected to four osmotic potentials (0.0, 0.1,-0.2, and-0.3 MPa). The seed quality was evaluated using the following variables: the germination percentage, germination speed index, shoot length, root length, dry mass accumulation, and salinity tolerance index. All variables were found to be affected by salt stress. However, the conventional genotypes, BRS Carna??ba, BRS P??rola, BRS Tracaj??, and BRS Sambaiba, and the RR group PAS-13565-74-RR, and PAS-11711-007-RR were tolerant to salinity, whereas the genotypes FTR-4389 (conventional) and BRS Sambaiba RR (RR) were less tolerant to salt stress, and all genotypes in the IPRO group were moderately tolerant to salt stress.