Screening of breeding lines of Improved Samba Mahsuri possessing Saltol QTL for seedling stage salinity tolerance

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the seedling stage salinity tolerance of 12 breeding lines developed in the genetic background of Improved Samba Mahsuri (ISM), possessing the Saltol QTL using FL478 as tolerant check by adopting IRRI standard protocol (hydroponics). The tolerance levels were assessed after 12 days of exposure to four different levels of saline solution (with electrical conductivity of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 dS m −1). While, all the twelve breeding lines were observed to be tolerant to seedling stage salinity, three lines, viz., i.e. ISM-18-217-18-141, ISM-110-39-23-147, ISM105-34-6-182 showed a higher degree of tolerance with a phenotypic score of 1 and five other lines, viz., ISM-100-17-66-98, ISM-84-7-12-47, ISM-10-12-67-157, ISM-102-179-13-179, ISM-19-15-178-142 showed a score of 3, while four lines i.e., ISM-9-5-50-160, ISM-22-102-179-143, ISM-3-181-90-196, ISM-82-79-45-76 exhibited a score of 3. The development of breeding of lines of Improved Samba Mahsuri possessing tolerance to seedling stage salinity can be helpful to increase the income of farmers living in areas affected by coastal and inland salinity.