Salinity and drought stress on barley and wheat cultivars planted in Turkey

Aim: The study was conducted to investigate the salinity and drought susceptibilities of barley and wheat varieties cultivated in Turkey by phenotypic assays and to evaluate the association of WRKY19 and WRKY52 transcription factors with salinity and drought stresses by gene expression assays. Methodology: Salinity tests of treatment different concentration of (0, 0.5, 1 and 2%) NaCl were managed with 13 barley and 22 wheat varieties germinated for 10 days. According to findings obtained from phenotypic investigations, two relative tolerant and two sensitive cultivars were selected and used in gene expression analysis. Transcript abundance for drought stress and relative fold changes for salinity stress were analyzed via expression assays of WRKY19 and WRKY52 genes. Results: The minimum and maximum germination scores were changed between 0.090±0.0903.818±0.400 (barley) and 0.454±0.312-3.0913±0.594 (wheat), while water loss rate (WLR) values ranged from 0.009±0.0091 - 0.2±0.0011 (barley) and 0.01±0.0005-0.3±0.1195 (wheat). In drought stress assessments, WRKY19 and WRKY52 transcripts abundances were relatively higher in relatively resistance cultivars in comparison to sensitive genotypes. Similarly, fold c h a n g e s i n g e n e expression were higher in resistant cultivars up to +26 changes. Interpretation: Drought and salinity stress factor analysis showed that there was no homogenous abiotic stress response profile for barley and wheat varieties in Turkey. According to gene expression analysis, WRKY19 and WRK52 genes could stimulate the drought and salinity responses. This study is important in terms of analyzing the cereal varieties planted in Turkey, an d p ro vi d i n g an association between WRKY genes and abiotic stress.