EVALUATION OF ELITE BREAD WHEAT GENOTYPES AND EGYPTIAN CULTIVARS FOR SALINITY TOLERANCE UNDER SALINE CONDITIONS IN EGYPT

Global climate change is accelerating the process of soil salinization. Salinity restricts wheat production worldwide, including in Egypt. Thus, it is recommended to screen for salt-tolerant genotypes according to salinity tolerance related traits. The present study aimed to evaluate the salinity tolerance among 159 spring bread wheat elite genotypes and to compare them with the 16 Egyptian checks. Thus, the genotypes were evaluated under saline conditions in El-Arish, Egypt (EC 10 Ds/m). The field experiment was laid out in an alpha lattice design. Data for the thousand-grain weight, highest plant survival rate, plant height, number of seeds/spike, number of spikes/plant and seeds/spike, spike length and spike weight were collected in the field. Interestingly, the elite wheat genotypes 30351 and 30383 were observed to have maximum values for the thousand-grain weight in comparison with the other wheat genotypes under study. The results of this study suggest that the Egyptian varieties, sids1, sids12, sids13 and Gemmiza12, had maximum values for seeds/spike, spike length and spike weight, respectively. Thus, it is recommended to cross these superior genotypes with the elite genotypes to improve their performance in the seeds/spike, spike length and spike weight.