THE TOLERANCE OF AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF GARLIC (ALLIUM SATIVUM L.) GERMPLASMS TO SALT STRESS – A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION TO SALT STRESS
Jalil Ahmad, Haixia Wang, Jianbo Song, Maierdan Nuerawuti, X. ZHANG, Weifeng Yang, Lei Ma, X.X. Li
Abstract
Salinity is a serious problem that limits growth and yield of many agricultural crops worldwide. There is a need for a sustainable long -term solution to this problem. In this study, 354 diverse garlic germplasms were evaluated for their salt -tolerance at the seedling stage by being exposed to NaCl (0.25 mol/L) stress. The salt injury index (SII) along with several plant growth parameters were investigated. The results showed a wide variation of SII from 16.51 to 98.15 among these accessions. All accessions were classified into five groups according to their SIIs, corresponding to different grades of the tolerance to salinity. Among them, two highly tolerant and twenty-four salt-tolerant accessions were screened out. The response of distincit germplasms to salt stress was somewhat different in various trait indices. Moreover, an extremely significantly negative correlation was observed between SII and agronomic traits (PH, LL, LW and RHL) and physiological traits (gs, A, E, Ch). This study provides sustainable solution, original salt-tolerance evaluation technology and valuable materials for the garlic salt-tolerant genetic improvement.