Evaluating salinity tolerance in progeny of domestic and wild barley crosses at germination stage

Salinity is one of the most important challenges facing future global barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) productivity, as it causes major reduction in germination, growth, grain yield, and quality. Screening germplasm for salinity tolerance at germination is vital to breeding programs because germination is the first stage of plant growth and occurs near the soil surface where salt can accumulate in high concentrations. This experiment was conducted to assess salinity tolerance of 249 genotypes (64 diploid (2x) H. vulgare crosses; 174 tetraploid (4x) H. vulgare crosses; and 11 parents) at the seed germination stage. Salinity treatments applied at imbibition included concentrations of 0, 100, 200, and 300 mM salinity and were maintained for 10 d. Analysis of variance of all families indicated significant (P <= .001) genotype x salinity interaction for final germination percentage (FG%), corrected germination percentage (CG%), and germination index (GI) at all treatment levels, indicating high genetic variation for salinity tolerance among screened genotypes. The mean of all measured parameters (FG%, CG%, and GI) decreased as salinity concentration increased. These responses can be used to identify genotypes with salinity tolerance at germination. At 300 mM salinity, progenies in 2x Families 1 and 2 were 14.3 and 12.5% saline tolerant, respectively. A total of 29 progenies from 4x families were tolerant to 300 mM treatment at germination. These progenies would have an economic value for improving barley tolerance for salinity.