Screening for Salt Tolerance in Winter Wheat Genotypes at Germination and Early Seedling Stages.

A series of control environment experiments were carried out to evaluate the response of 200 winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L) to different level of salinity. Salinity effects were evaluated on seed germination and seedling growth. Experiments were arranged on randomized complete block design with four replications. The seeds were subjected to three levels of salinity, 0, 60, and 120 mM NaCl. Seedlings were harvested after 192 hours and their final germination percentages, rate of germination, shoot and root lengths, and shoot and root dry weight was recorded. There was different responses among different genotype as some cultivars were more salt tolerant than others. By increasing NaCl concentration, seed germination delayed and decreased in almost all cultivars; however, increasing NaCl has less effect on final germination percentage. On the other hand, increasing NaCl concentrations adversely affected germination rate. Shoot and root length also affected by increasing NaCl concentrations. The data showed that increasing salinity level significantly affected the growth characteristics by reducing root and shoot length. In addition; shoot and root dry weights were also affected by increased NaCl concentration. The study have found that salt stress decreased seed vigour of wheat cultivars, excluding some cultivars which shown to be more salt tolerance.