Evaluation of some recombinant lines of Triticum turgidum L. for salt tolerance

A pot experiment was carried out at Al-Ohaʹa Farm, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, approximately 20 km north of Al-Ain city, U.A.E during 1999–2000 growing seasons. Seven wheat genotypes and one barley cultivar tolerant to salinity stress were exposed to three levels of salinity, 2, 4, and 8 gl−1, with three replicates in a randomized complete block design arranged in split plots. The rationale of this research was to evaluate the yield potential of some translocated durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) lines selected from a genetic population with the Kna1 gene transferred from Triticum aestivum L. chromosome 4D (Dvorak et al., 1994). Results showed that increasing salinity concentration negatively affected the expression of plant height, and biological and grain yields with different responses among the tested genotypes. The disomic substitution line DS4D(LDN 4B) and one of the lines having chromosome 4D in its genetic background (Line 56) proved to be salt-tolerant and could survive and grow satisfactorily under a salt concentration of up to 8 gl−1. These two lines could combine both high biological and grain yield production, especially under the intermediate salt concentration. The other three lines tested; L133, L146 and L83 gave similar patterns of change under different salt concentrations. Yields were relatively high at intermediate salt concentrations but were unsatisfactory under higher salt levels with percent reduction ranging from 8 to 24%. The durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) cv ‘Langdon’ produced the lowest biological and grain yield compared to the other tested materials, which confirms its suspected sensitivity to salt stress. On the other hand, the two check cultivars of wheat and barley showed high tolerance to salinity, especially barley which showed the least effect to salinity stress. It was concluded from this study that disomic substitution line and L56 could be grown at a salinity concentration of between 4 and 8 gl−1with least reduction. If, however, a lower yield is satisfactory, these lines can be grown at higher salinity concentrations, but more frequent irrigation and a higher leaching fraction is required to avoid any salt accumulation in the soil solution.