MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATIONS OF WHEAT GENOTYPES TO SALINITY STRESS

To explore morpho-physiological alteration in wheat for salinity tolerance, a glass house experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, (NIA) Tando Jam, Pakistan. Studies were conducted with two levels of salinity (Control, and 12 dS m(-1) NaCl) and five wheat genotypes. Due to salinity stress morphological and yield attributes like plant height, total tillers, productive tillers, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, number of grain per spike, 1000 grain weight, grain weight per plant were decreased in all wheat genotypes, however, wheat ESW-9525 showed significantly less reduction in all these parameters than other wheat genotypes. Biochemical attributes like proline glycine betaine and total soluble sugars were increased in all the genotypes due to salinity. Wheat geotype Bakhtawar maintained the highest Na while the minimum Na contents were found in ESW-9525 that had the highest correlation with grain yield. The tolerant and stable cultivars were ESW-9525 and Sarsabz which had highest yield at 12 dS m(-1) salinity than other cultivars.