Assessment of salt stress effect on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars at seedling stage

Salinity is one of the major abiotic environmental stresses affecting plant crops. The present study was conducted at the regional lab of the National Seed and Plant Control and Certification Center (CNCC) of Sétif, Algeria. The purpose of this study was to assess the behavior of twenty bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties under different salt stress concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl) at seedling stage under hydroponic conditions. Accordingly, the results indicated that NaCl induced significant decreases in roots length and number, coleoptile length, root and shoot fresh weights; and each variety reacted differently as indicated by the ‘genotype x salinity’ effect. Moderate (100 mM) and high (150 mM) salt stress were the most discriminating traits between sensitive and tolerant cultivars. Based on salt sensitivity index (SSI), the evaluated genotypes were grouped into three clusters. SSI identified Mezghana (V1), Almirante (V8), Sensas (V18), Florence Aurore (V19) and Pinzon (V20) as the most tolerant cultivars. These genotypes could be used in local wheat breeding programs for the improvement of salt tolerance.