Genome-Wide Association Study of Seedling Characteristics in Bread Wheat Cultivars Under Normal and Salt Stress Conditions

In order to identify loci controlling seedling morpho-physiologic characteristics in 88 bread wheat cultivars, a greenhouse experiment based on simple alpha lattice was conducted under both normal and 120 mM (12 ds/m) salt stress condition of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University in 2020-2021 cropping season. Chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid content, proline, plant fresh and dry weight, plant height and leaf relative water content (RWC), Na+, K+ and K+/Na+ concentrations were measured. After genotyping by sequencing with Ion Torrent technology and removal of SNPs with more than 20% of missing data and minor allele frequency less than 5%, a total of 5869 SNP markers were identified. Based on association mapping with the mixed linear model (MLM) method, a total of 25 marker-trait associations were detected under normal conditions. The A and D genomes had the highest and lowest number of significant marker-trait associations (MTAs). Among the studied traits under normal conditions, chlorophyll a had the highest number of MTAs on 1A, 3B, 3D, 5B, 7A chromosomes with eight MTAs. A total of 21 MTAs were identified under salt stress conditions which the genome B and D had the highest and lowest number of MTAs, respectively. Five MTAs were identified for plant fresh weight, which were located on chromosomes 4A and 6B. The results of this study provide valuable information about the loci associated with the studied traits, which can be used in marker assisted selection in wheat breeding programs after confirmation in biparental populations and additional experiments.