Analysis of agronomic traits of salt tolerant wheat under drought condition

Drought and salinity have been the main abiotic stresses that adversely affect wheat prodcution. In this paper, four wheat varieties were used in a preliminary analysis of salt-tolerant characteristics and agronomic traits under a two-year drought condition. The investigated wheat varieties included "Xindong 26" (from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), and "Cangmai 6001", "Cangmai 6002" and "Cangmai 6003" (from Cangzhou City, Hebei Province). The results of the study provided the needed reference information on wheat varietal improvement and genetic breeding. The results showed that under 100 mmol·L^-1 NaCl, the relative growth rates of roots and shoots of "Xindong 26" were higher than those of the other varieties. Then under 200 mmol·L^-1 NaCl, "Cangmai 6003" performed better than the other varieties. After treatment with 100 mmol·L^-1 NaCl, the ratios of root to shoot of the four varieties decreased. However, in 200 mmol·L^-1 NaCl, root-to-shoot ratio of "Xindong 26" increased. Under drought stress, "Xindong 26" and "Cangmai 6001" showed the highest yield among the four wheat varieties. Furthermore, agronomic traits of salt-tolerant wheat varieties under drought conditions were analyzed. Correlation analysis on agronomic traits showed that grain yield per plant was extremely positively correlated with tillering number, spikelet number and kernels number per spike and biological yield per plant, and positively correlated with economic coefficient. Multivariate regression analysis showed that tillering number, spikelet number, kernels number per spike and biological yield per plant determined 75.9% of the yield variation. The results suggested that wheat varieties with higher tillering number, spikelet number, kernels number per spike and biological yield per plant were better picks for salt/drought-tolerant varieties.