Diallel analysis of salinity tolerance at germination and the early seedling stage in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Salt stress is one of the most crucial abiotic stress factors and affects about 20 % of the world's irrigated land. The present study was conducted to evaluate the combining effects of salinity stress response at the early seedling stage, (root length, coleoptile length, shoot length, germination rate and germination vigour) using four parents and their 4 x 4 full-diallel crosses of bread wheat. Parents and their F2 hybrids were assessed in the laboratory under salinity stress induced by sodium chloride (NaCl) with two treatments (0 control, 100 mMol). General Combining Ability (GCA) mean squares were highly significant for all traits studied. The GCA: SCA (Specific Combining Ability) rate was greater than the unit for all the traits studied and additive genes indicated a higher contribution than non-additive genes in the inheritance of these characters. GCA effects showed that ‘84CZT04’ was the desirable general combiner for coleoptile length, root length and shoot length under salinity stress condition. Estimates of the SCA effects of crosses demonstrated that 1 × 4 and 3 × 1 could be regarded as the most desirable cross-combination for root and shoot length at both conditions.