Assessment of synthetic wheat lines for soil salinity tolerance

In order to determine the performance of synthetic wheat (Triticum turgidum x Aegilops squarrosa) lines under soil salinity stress conditions and to screen quantitative indices of salinity tolerance, 43 synthetic wheat lines from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Turkey were tested in a randomized complete block design in two replications under non-salinity (normal) and salinity stress conditions in Absheron and Ujar regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences among the wheat genotypes for all quantitative morphological traits studied. Salinity stress tolerance indices, including stress sensitivity index (SSI), tolerance index (TOL), mean productivity index (MPI), stress tolerance index (STI), geometric mean productivity index (GMPI) and harmonic mean index (HMI) were calculated according to the grain yield under non-salinity and salinity stress conditions. The correlation coefficients showed that GMPI, STI, MPI and um were the most desirable selection criteria for high yielding and soil salinity tolerant genotypes. The results of this experiment revealed that among the studied wheat genotypes lines Nos 16 and 27 were highly tolerant but produced low grain yield. Also, lines Nos 5, 29, 15, 28, 4, 25 and 24 had the highest tolerance to salinity stress and produced the highest grain yield in both (non-salinity and salinity stress) conditions. In conclusion, it was suggested that these wheat lines are suitable for salinity stress conditions and are appropriate for hybridization with the aim of increasing salinity tolerance.