Evaluation for Salt Tolerance of Wheat Cultivars

Based on the industry standard NY/PZT001-2002 of Ministry of Agriculture, 882 wheat varieties were evaluated for salt tolerance at the germination stage and the seedling stage. Among varieties tested, 328 wheat cultivars with salt tolerance grade 1 were identified at the germination stageand 43 cultivars were medium salt tolerance at both the germination stage and the seedling stage. Besides the slat tolerance, some varieties, such as Xiaoyan22, Xinshuguang 1 etc., were high yield and high quality. The excellent salt tolerance germplasm screened in this study provides the genetic materials for wheat breeding to improve salt tolerance. Correlation analysis of wheat varieties with salt tolerance grade 1 and 2 at the germination stage showed that significant negative correlation existed between the germination stage and the seedling stage for salt tolerance, while no correlation existed at both stages for wheat varieties with salt tolerance grade 3, 4 and 5, indicating that evaluation of the wheat salt tolerance at the germination stage had the same significance as that at the seedling stage in screening of wheat germplasm with salt tolerance.