Study of Iranian Landraces Wheat in Salt-affected Soils of Golestan Province

Salinity problem is continuously increasing in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. To effectively utilize germplasm resources in breeding, it is necessary to characterize and evaluate genotypes for the desirable traits and as well for salinity tolerance. Salinity tolerance of 80 wheat landraces from different parts of Iran was studied in two steps. At first, the degree of salnity tolerance of the selected genotypes was evaluated for grain yield in saline soil (up to 10dS.m-1) at Agh-ghela, in comparison with grain yield in potential conditions in Gorgan over two years (1998-2000). One-third of the genotypes were selected based on grain yield, salt tolerance index and adaptability to region. The selected genotypes were then evaluated in 150mM NaCl in Hoagland’s solution. Stress Tolerance Index (STI) was significantly and positively correlated with leaf K+/Na+ ratio in salt-stressed plants, while, this index negatively correlated with plant height, leaf burning, days to heading and days to maturity in non-stressed plants and leaf sodium in stressed plants. Gene bank genotype No. 24, Mahdavi, cross Arvand and Ghods cultivars had relatively high grain yield, high STI, high leaf K+/Na+ ratio and low leaf sodium, indicating that they can be utilized in wheat breeding programs as planned for the saline regions.