Diversity of salt tolerance in a germplasm collection of wheat (Triticum spp.)

A collection (5,072 lines) of wheat germplasm was screened at the seedling stage for tolerance to salinity concentrations having electrical conductivities of 0.8 (control), 12.5, 18.75 and 25.0 dS/m. Surviving seedlings were expressed for each line as a percentage of the control value. The 442 lines with greater than 70% surviving seedlings were tested for whole-life cycle survival under each salinity condition. The data of the reactions to salinity at both the seedling stage and maturity were used to classify the collection according to: (1) country of origin (2) species and ploidy level. The data were then subjected to a diversity analysis using the Shannon-Weaver information index. Seedling stage tolerance to 12.5 dS/cm salinity was widely distributed in the collection (79% of lines), whereas only 9% were tolerant at 25.0 dS/m salinity. The seedling stage tolerance was indicative of maturity tolerance. At the seedling stage, entries from USA and Egypt showed the largest proportions of tolerant lines. In addition, USA, Mexico and Egypt entries exhibited the widest variability. Diversity among regions was greater than among countries within regions, while the diversity among species was greater than among ploidy levels. Tetraploids exceeded hexaploids and diploids in the proportion of tolerant lines and diversity. Wheat-rye derivatives showed a good potential for salt tolerance at early stages. Screening more germplasm from the arid and semi-arid regions especially from countries with salt affected soils was recommended.