Soil salinity is an important factor limiting crop productivity, especially in arid and semi-arid countries like Iran. Therefore, improving salt-tolerant varieties of crops such as sugar beet that could grow and produce acceptable yield in this stress condition is one of the most important objectives of plant breeding in Sugar Beet Seed Instutue (SBSI) of Iran. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the different sugar beet genotypes in terms of salinity tolerance based on physiological and morphological traits in greenhouse conditions and comparing its results with field experiments. In this study, quantity and quality characters of 12 sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) advanced breeding populations were investigated under stress(EC = 16 ds/m) and non-stress conditions in a factorial experiment in the greenhouse and split plot experiment in the field at the experimental station of Sugar Beet Seed Institute (SBSI) in Mian-Doab, Iran. Several characteristics such as, root yield (RY), white sugar yield (WSY), sugar content (SC), leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW), petiole length (PL), root impurities (Na, K and N), relative water content (RWC), relative water loss (RWL), and proline content were determined. The analysis of variation showed significant differences among the breeding populations for most traits such as root and shoot fresh and dry weights, sugar yield, impurities, petiole length and proline. In general, salinity stress conditions increased proline, specific leaf weight, leaf sodium, root length and total dry weight in comparison with non-stress condition but other traits decreased in salinity stress condition in greenhouse. In meanwhile, salinity stress conditions increased sugar content and decreased other traits in the field as compared with the non-stress condition. Genotypes SC C2*S7, SC C2*S10 and SC C2*S11 were found to be superior to the other genotypes for root and white sugar yields and sugar content. Genotypes SC 261*S7 and 191 were had the least root yield in the stress condition.

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Abstract. The AquaCrop model, calibrated for 2002 and validated for 2003, is used to simulate sugar beet root dry yield, dry biomass, water productivity based on irrigation (WPi), and water productivity based on total water input (WPi+p) in an experimental field of the Karaj Sugar Beet Seed Institute (Karaj, Iran). Three irrigation treatments including full irrigation, 75% deficit irrigation, and 50% deficit irrigation were carried out in the main plots. The results of statistical comparison between the model output and observed data in the calibration (2002) and validation (2003) years showed that the AquaCrop model reliably simulated sugar beet yield and the biomass under different genotypes and irrigation levels. AquaCrop did a better job of simulating dry biomass than root dry yield. The findings show that by decreasing water input, including irrigation and precipitation, WPi, and WPi+p will increase. In total, statistical indicators and scatter plots indicated that the AquaCrop model had enough fitness to predict yield, biomass, and water productivity for the future. Keywords: AquaCrop, Yield; Biomass, WPi, WPi+p.

This study was carried out in the Agricultural Research Center of West Azerbaijan, Iran in 2016. In this research, variations in different physiological and yield traits measurement of total dry weight, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, relative water content, relative water loss, root length, leaf area, root/shoot ratio, specific leaf weigh, sodium content, potassium content and proline were investigated in normal and saline condition. The results indicated that in saline condition, total dry weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root/Shoot ratio, specific leaf weight, root length, proline and Na content were increased and the other traits were decreased. Study of correlation of traits showed that most significant difference between the two conditions was observed for the root/shoot ratio, so that, this trait has negative significant relation with total dry weight, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, relative water content, leaf area, root length, specific leaf weight in saline condition, but in normal condition correlation is positive and significant only in the total dry weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight and root dray weight and was not significant in the other traits. Step-wise regression analysis for total dry weight as dependent variable revealed that in normal condition, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight and Na content expound of 93.1% and in saline condition root fresh weight, root length, Na content and proline explicate of 81.3% of total variation exist in total dry weight. Therefore, it is suggested to consider different traits in breeding programs for normal and saline conditions.

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