EVALUATION OF WHEAT GENOTYPES FOR SALT TOLERANCE DURING GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH STAGE

Abstract

To evaluate germination characters and seedling growth of wheat as screening criteria against salt stress twenty wheat genotypes were tested at Crop Physiology and Ecology Laboratory, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur during November 2013 to February 2014. The seeds of twenty wheat genotypes were germinated in petridish (9 cm diameter) on sand bed irrigated with saline (15 dSm-1) and control solution and allowed to grow for 10 days after placement for germination. These twenty wheat genotypes were again tested in different levels (control, 4, 6, 8 and 10 dS m-1) of artificially developed saline soil for 30 days. Germination %, speed of germination as expressed by rate of germination, co-efficient of germination and germination vigor index, shoot length, root length and seedling dry weight of 10 days old seedlings were found to be affected due to salt stress but some of the wheat genotypes showed greater tolerance than the others. Salt tolerance index (STI) for seedling dry weight at 10 days after placement for germination maintained a significant positive correlation with STI for rate of germination, germination vigor index, shoot length and root length indicating that these parameters could be used as selection criteria for screening wheat genotypes against salt stress. Based on seedling dry weight and other germination characters wheat genotypes Gourab, Shatabdi, Bijoy, Prodip, BARI Gom 26, PYT- 15, PYT- 18 and PYT- 19 showed greater tolerance to salt stress than the other wheat genotypes. Shoot length, root length and seedling dry weight of 30 days old seedling were found to be reduced gradually with the increment of soil salinity level but different wheat genotypes responded differently to different level of salinity. Among the wheat genotypes, Sourav, Gourab, Shatabdi, Bijoy, Prodip, BARI Gom 26, PYT-13, PYT-15 and PYT-19 showed greater tolerance to different levels of saline soil compared to Sufi, BARI Gom 25, BARI Gom 27, BARI Gom 28, PYT-6, PYT-11, PYT-12, PYT- 14, PYT- 16, PYT- 18 and PYT-21.