Identification of salt tolerant genotypes in wheat using stress tolerance indices

Salinity is one of the most important causes of yield loss in agricultural products, especially wheat. Wheat cultivation, on the other hand, is carried out on a wide range of agricultural land in saline lands. Therefore, wheat breeding for tolerance to salinity can be an effective way to improve yield and yield stability under these conditions. In this study, twenty wheat genotypes were studied in a randomized complete block design with three replications in two normal and salinity stress conditions in order to identify suitable indices of wheat stress tolerance and also to identify genotypes tolerant to salinity stress. Genotypes were evaluated based on tolerance index (TOL), stress tolerance index (STI), mean productivity (MP), susceptibility to stress (SSI), geometric mean productivity (GMP), harmonic mean productivity (HM), yield stability (YS) and yield index (YS). The results showed that MP, GMP, HM and STI indices are suitable indices because of their positive and highly significant correlation with yield in both normal and salinity stress conditions and it was found that these indices were suitable tools to achieve high yield genotypes in both environments. The results also showed that genotypes 10, 4, 9, 3 and 8 are resistant to salt stress with acceptable yield. Genotypes 5, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 20 were also identified as the most susceptible genotypes.