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ABSTRACT. Identification of new sources of salt tolerance is particularly important to develop crop varieties suitable for saline soils. We evaluated 129 Pakistani and 58 exotic wheat landraces/ cultivars grown in Hoagland's hydroponic nutrient solution, under control (tap water equivalent to 10 mM salt) and salt stress (200 mM NaCl) conditions. Forty-four genotypes were also tested under 250 mM NaCl stress. High heritability and positive correlations suggested that number of tillers per plant, root length, root fresh and dry weights, and shoot fresh and dry weights are associated with salt tolerance and could be used as selection criteria. SSR markers revealed high genetic variation in the wheat genotypes. Twelve SSR markers (cfd 1, cfd 9, cfd 18, cfd 46, cfd 49, cfd 183, wmc 11, wmc 17, wmc 18, wmc 154, wmc 432, and wmc 503) were found to be associated with salt tolerance because they were amplified in tolerant genotypes only. Five markers, cfd 9, cfd 18, cfd 183, wmc 96, and wmc 405, were identified as most suitable to evaluate salt tolerance because they were associated with four or more salt tolerance traits studied. Cultivars Pasban 90, accessions 10790, 10828, 10823, and 4098805 from Pakistan and Sakha-92 from Egypt performed best at both stress levels.

Temperature across the globe is increasing continuously at the rate of 0.15–0.17 °C per decade since the industrial revolution. It is influencing agricultural crop productivity. Therefore, thermotolerance strategies are needed to have sustainability in crop yield under higher temperature. However, improving thermotolerance in the crop is a challenging task for crop scientists. Therefore, this review work was conducted with the aim of providing information on the wheat response in three research areas, i.e., physiology, breeding, and advances in genetics, which could assist the researchers in improving thermotolerance. The optimum temperature for wheat growth at the heading, anthesis, and grain filling duration is 16 ± 2.3 °C, 23 ± 1.75 °C, and 26 ± 1.53 °C, respectively. The high temperature adversely influences the crop phenology, growth, and development. The pre-anthesis high temperature retards the pollen viability, seed formation, and embryo development. The post-anthesis high temperature declines the starch granules accumulation, stem reserve carbohydrates, and translocation of photosynthates into grains. A high temperature above 40 °C inhibits the photosynthesis by damaging the photosystem-II, electron transport chain, and photosystem-I. Our review work highlighted that genotypes which can maintain a higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine, expression of heat shock proteins, stay green and antioxidant enzymes activity viz., catalase, peroxidase, super oxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase can tolerate high temperature efficiently through sustaining cellular physiology. Similarly, the pre-anthesis acclimation with heat treatment, inorganic fertilizer such as nitrogen, potassium nitrate and potassium chloride, mulches with rice husk, early sowing, presoaking of a 6.6 mM solution of thiourea, foliar application of 50 ppm dithiothreitol, 10 mg per kg of silicon at heading and zinc ameliorate the crop against the high temperature. Finally, it has been suggested that modern genomics and omics techniques should be used to develop thermotolerance in wheat.

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have been used to examine the genomic diversity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm. Thirteen wheat genotypes of diverse origin were analyzed with 43 selected SSRs to provide uniform and maximum genome coverage. A total of 156 allelic variants were detected at 43 SSR loci, ranging from two to eight per locus with an average of 3.6. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values of the loci ranged from 0.10 (Xgwm264) to 0.89 (Xgwm471 and Xgwm577). Genetic similarities calculated from SSR data ranged from 30.1 ('Era' and 'Klasic') to 90.1 ('Neepawa' and 'Thatcher') between genotypes. UPGMA analysis based on genetic distance estimates produced three loose groupings that were generally consistent with available pedigree information. Cultivars 'Neepawa' and 'Thatcher' are closely related. Their genetic relationship was confirmed by the facts that they share a common ancestor and are clustered together. There were two different 'Era' genotypes, one used in the 'Otane' pedigree and one used in this study. None of the other genotypes had a close common ancestor indicating any close genetic relationships. Principal coordinate analysis also confirmed this pattern of genetic diversity. A wide range of genomic diversity was observed among all the genotypes, proving them to be prime candidates for selective breeding for specific traits and broadening the genetic base.

Wheat being a glycophyte crop, responds differently to saline-sodic soil environmental conditions. The application of calcium is multidimensional with respect to sodium ion and plant part response. This study was conducted to record the response of shoot and root to sodium and calcium interaction under saline environment. Wheat seed of variety Punjab 85 were raised in quartz sand. Later on the seedlings were transplanted to pots containing Hoagland's nutrient solution along with NaCl at 0 mM. and 50 mM. Calcium was applied as CaSO 4 2H 2 O at 3 mM. and 6 mM. Under saline conditions shoot showed positive response to sodium ion in the presence of higher calcium. Relative water contents were higher in the root system at 6 mM of CaSO 4 . 2H 2 O under saline condition. Growth responses to potassium and Magnesium in the presence of sodium induced salinity with calcium ion interaction remained variable.