Study of salt tolerance in wheat ( Triticum aestium L . ) cultivar Banysoif 1

Salt tolerance of new wheat cultivar Banysoif 1 was investigated to find relevant culturing strategy in saline areas. Wheat cv. Banysoif 1 was grown in clay soil for 7 days in different pots. Then seedlings were irrigated by different saline waters (0, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 320 mM NaCl) near the field capacity. Plants were kept in the natural condition under these saline levels for 155 days. Fresh and dry weight of roots were measured unchanged up to the level of 120 mM NaCl then a significant reduction obtained at 240 and 320 mM NaCl. In shoots and spikes, dry matters were either unchanged or even stimulated to increase toward 180 mM NaCl then a quick reduction was observed. We assumed that it is associated with the increase of leaf area and photosynthetic pigments up to 180 mM NaCl. There was also a remarkable variation in accumulation of different carbohydrate fractions among wheat studied organs. In root, the drastic effect in soluble fraction was accompanied with a remarkable accumulation of insoluble components. In shoots, the production of carbohydrates remained mostly unaffected even at the highest salinity level. In spikes, the soluble fractions were increased significantly by salt stress while the insoluble slightly reduced. Protein content reduced at high levels of salinity in roots while has been increased significantly in shoots and spikes. Amino acid content increased significantly towards 120 mM and 180 mM NaCl then a quick reduction about 55% and 45% recorded in roots and shoots respectively. In spike, there was a significant reduction in amino acids by increasing salt stress. In roots, there was a large accumulation of proline even at the lowest salinity level. Accumulation of proline was failed in spikes and shoots and therefore a non-significant increase in proline content even at the highest salinity level was observed. Sodium content increased significantly in the three organ but the percent of increase was varied considerably among the three organs especially at sever salinity and the opposite pattern was observed in the accumulation and distribution of K , Ca and Mg. K / Na ratio decreased in response to salt stress in root, shoot and spikes.