Screening of Saltol introgressed backcross inbred lines of rice under hydroponic condition for salinity tolerance

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stress that affects the rice production. A research study was conducted to screen the Saltol introgressed backcross inbred lines viz., BIL33, BIL 44 and BIL 752 of ADT 37 x FL 478 and BIL 1094, BIL 1095 and BIL 1102 of CR 1009 Sub 1 x FL 478 possessing the Saltol QTL for seedling stage salinity tolerance. The confirmation for the presence of Saltol QTL in the lines was analyzed using the foreground SSR marker RM 3412, a linked marker for Saltol QTL. The lines along with the recurrent parents ADT 37 and CR 1009 Sub 1 and donor parent FL 478 were subjected to salt stress under hydroponic condition under two different concentrations of EC viz., 6 dS/m (lower concentration) and 12 dS/m (higher concentration). The salt stress injury scoring, root and shoot length reduction percentage and Na+/K+ ratio were analyzed and measured. Among the lines, BIL 752, BIL 1094 and BIL 1102 showed tolerance to salt stress injury, minimum reduction in root (18.1%) and shoot length (27.4%) percentage and the minimum Na+/K+ ratio in both shoots and roots even under higher concentration while BIL 33, BIL 44 and BIL 1095 showed moderate tolerance to salt stress. The selected saline tolerant lines will be further evaluated in saline areas to observe yield potentiality for developing high yielding saline tolerant varieties and as donor parents in future breeding programs.