Genetic Analysis of Salinity Tolerance in a Bread Wheat Cross

Inheritance of salinity tolerance was determined in a cross between two spring bread wheat cultivars, "Rovshan" (P1) a tolerant cultivar and "Falat" (P2) a susceptible one. The parents, F1, F2 and backcross generations were studied under salinity conditions (EC= 12 dS m-1) in a greenhouse. Eight characters namely: Heading Date (HD), Plant Height (PH), K+, Na+, K+/Na+ ratio, total Number of Tillers per plant (NT), Ratio of Fertile Tillers per plant (RFT) and total Chlorophyll Content (TC) were recorded to estimate means and variances pooled over replications, according to the weighted generation means analysis method. Generation means analysis of the data revealed that these characters show all types of gene actions (additive, dominance and epistasis) and suggest that complex epistatic effects are important in controlling salt tolerance characteristics. The highest broad sense heritability (0.87) was observed for K+/Na+, indicating the interference of a major gene in control of this trait. Regarding the existence of additive and non-additive effects in controlling traits in this cross, the recurrent selection followed by pedigree breeding may prove useful in improving salinity tolerance in wheat