Field Screening and Evaluation of Salt and Cold Tolerance of Wheat Germplasm Resources

Abstract

Abiotic stresses like salinity and abnormally cold environments cause significant yield losses in many crops including wheat. Therefore, concerted efforts are being made by breeders to develop new varieties with salt and cold tolerance to ensure stable yields over varied environments. This study was undertaken to screen six hundred and seventy-seven accessions of international wheat genetic resources to identify lines with high level of tolerance to salinity and cold environments. Based on the results of two years study in different agroecological locations, 51 accessions were classified as salt tolerant and 115 accessions were classified as cold tolerant. Of these, 35 accessions had good agronomic characteristics. Also, there were 39 genotypes with combined tolerance to cold as well as salinity. Thus, there were good lines which can be used directly or as parents for breeding wheat varieties for wide adaptation and high yield. Further analysis of the data showed that early genotypes had good cold tolerance but a poor salt tolerance. It was also observed that small number of both test spikelet and spikelet, short spike length and good seed-plump were positively associated with cold tolerance. Therefore, maturity and spike traits should be taken into considered when selecting wheat lines for wide adaptation breeding.