Oryza sativa L. F 2 population and F 2:3 derived from a cross between salt tolerance cv. Tarommahali and salt sensitive cv. Khazar were used in this study. A linkage map based on F 2 population was constructed (74 SSR markers on 192 individuals), which covered a total of 1231.50 cM with an average two locus interval of 19.83 cM. Two QTLs related to Na + /K + ratio were found on chromosome 3 and 6. qDM-3 and qDM-8 (for dry mass of shoot) are major QTLs with very large effects explained 20.90 and 17.72 % of the total phenotypic variance, respectively. Major locus for DM (qDM-3) was bracketed by RM1022 -RM6283 spread over 13.6 cM on chromosome 3. Major part of the variability for standard tolerance ranking (STR) was explained by the qSTR-6 flanked by RM3727 -RM340 on chromosome 6, which exhibited phenotypic variance of 17.25 % and peak likelihood ratio (LR) of 17.51. The length of this QTL is 8.8 cM and identification of any tightly linked markers in this region will serve as a candidate gene for fine-mapping. qSTR-3 overlapped with qNA-3 and qNAK-3. The qSTR-3 may contain a new major gene for salt stress tolerance at seedling stage in rice. Major QTLs identified in this paper, after fine-mapping, could be used for marker assisted selection.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important food crops in the world, especially in Asian countries, and salinity is a major constraint to the sustainability and expansion of rice cultivation. Genetically improving salt tolerance of rice is a highly important objective of rice breeding programs. Traits such as salt tolerance are quantitatively inherited. Hence, mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) with molecular markers can be very helpful to plant breeders in the field of agricultural genomics (AgriGenomics). In this investigation, QTL analysis of physiological traits related to salt tolerance was carried out using F2:4 population of rice derived from a cross between a salt-tolerant variety, Gharib (indica), and a salt-sensitive variety, Sepidroud (indica). A linkage map based on 148 F2 individuals was constructed with 131 SSR markers and 105 AFLP markers, covering 2475.7 cM of rice genome with an average distance of 10.48 cM between flanking markers. A total of 41 QTLs for twelve physiological traits under salinity stress were detected distributed on all rice chromosomes, some of them being reported for the first time. Also, overlapping of QTLs related to salt tolerance were observed in this study. Some of the identified QTLs on specific chromosomal regions explaining high phenotypic variance could be used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs. New QTLs retrieved in this study play an important role in growth of rice at seedling stage in an Iranian local population under high salinity conditions.

An F2 : 4 population derived from the cross between salt‐tolerant variety ‘Gharib’ (indica) and salt‐sensitive variety Sepidroud (indica) was used to determine the germination traits. The seeds were treated with 80 mm NaCl (salt stress), and 11 traits were determined as indicators for salt‐tolerant including germination rate, germination percentage, radicle length, plumule length, coleoptile length, plumule fresh and dry weight, radicle fresh and dry weight and coleoptile fresh and dry weight. A linkage map of 2475.7 cM with an average interval of 10.48 cM was constructed using 105 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and 131 SSR markers. As many as that 17 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected related to germination traits under salt stress condition; some of them are being reported for first time. Also, overlapping of QTLs related to salt tolerance was observed in this study. The identification of genomic regions associated with salt‐tolerant and its components under salt stress will be useful for marker‐based approaches to improve salt‐tolerant for farmers in salt‐prone rice environments.

Selection and breeding for drought tolerance in rice have always been one of the leading objectives for rice breeders in water-deficient farming areas. In the present study, we applied the potential of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) population, which were derived from cross Shahpasand (Iranian landrace) and IR28, for the development of drought-tolerant rice lines. One hundred fifty-two lines along with five check varieties were investigated from 2017 to 2019 under non-stress and drought stress conditions. The yield reduction caused by drought based on overall mean during 2017, 2018, and 2019 were estimated to be 89.40, 57.95, and 35.31%, respectively. Using different statistical methods, certain lines, including L33, L90, and L109, which are considered as the best lines in most environments, were found to be promising for being utilized to increase rice drought tolerance. The averages of grain yield of the above-mentioned lines were respectively 6.45, 5.80, and 5.70 t ha−1 under non-stress condition, and respectively 2.77, 2.66, and 2.59 t ha−1 under drought stress condition. The yield reduction of the selected lines were significantly lower than that of others indicating the significant transgressive segregation. The results revealed using the combination of the best identified tolerance and susceptibility indices and GT-biplot are effective methods for screening superior lines. However, their utilization is not easy and requires specialized packages. For the first time, we introduced a new composite index as a combination of significant indices (CSI). CSI is in the form of a linear function of indices which effectiveness is determined by their correlation coefficient with grain yield. According to our results, using CSI, the identified rice drought-tolerant lines were in high agreement with those obtained by other methods, demonstrating that CSI is a simple but reliable composite index.

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Knowledge in the area of genetic diversity could aid in providing useful information in the selection of material for breeding such as hybridization programs and quantitative trait loci mapping. To this end, 50 Nicotiana tabacum genotypes were genotyped with 21 primer combination of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). A total of 480 unambiguous DNA fragments and 373 polymorphic bands were produced with an average of 17.76 per primer combination. Also, the results revealed high polymorphic rate varing from 52.63 to 92.59%, demonstrating that AFLP technique utilized in this research can be a powerful and valuable tool in the breeding program of N. tabacum. Cluster analysis based on complete linkage method using Jaccard's genetic distance, grouped the 50 tobacco genotypes into eight clusters including three relatively big clusters, one cluster including Golden gift, Burly 7022 and Burly Kreuzung, one cluster consisting of two individuals (Pereg234, R9) and three single-member clusters (Pennbel69, Coker176 and Budisher Burley E), Recent genotypes showed high genetic distance from other genotypes belonging to cluster I and II. Association analysis between seven important traits and AFLP markers were performed using four statistical models. The results revealed the model containing both the factors, population structure (Q) and general similarity in genetic background arising from shared kinship (K), reduces false positive associations between markers and phenotype. According to the results nine markers were determined that could be considered to be the most interesting candidates for further studies.

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