Physiological and Molecular Responses of Barley Genotypes to Salinity Stress

Abstract

Among cereals, barley is tolerant to high levels of salinity stress; however, its performance and global production are still dramatically affected by salinity. In this study, we evaluated the behavior of a set of advanced genotypes of barley with aim of assessing the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in salinity tolerance. The experiment was conducted using a hydroponic system at optimal growing temperature and photoperiod conditions. The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant effects for salinity treatments and genotypes in terms of all measured traits. Salinity stress significantly increased the root and shoot Na+ contents and root-to-shoot Na+ and K+ translocations. In contrast, other physiological features, gas exchange-related traits, as well as root and shoot biomasses were significantly decreased due to salinity stress. Based on the results of the multi-trait genotype ideotype distance index (MGIDI) as a multiple-traits method, G12 and G14 were identified as the superior salt-tolerant advanced genotypes. In the molecular analysis, salinity stress significantly increased the mean relative expression of HvSOS1, HvSOS3, HvHKT2, HvHKT3, HvNHX1, and HvNHX3 genes by 12.87-, 3.16-, 3.65-, 2.54-, 2.19-, and 3.18-fold more than the control conditions, respectively. The results of heatmap-based correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a clear association pattern among measured traits and expression data. Indeed, these associations confirmed relationships between tolerance pathways and physiological functions. In conclusion, the genotype G14 (D10*2/4/Productive/3/Roho//Alger/Ceres362-1-1) responded well to salinity stress and showed a better expression pattern of studied genes than other genotypes. Hence, this promising genotype can be a candidate for further assessments before commercial introduction.

Integrating Agro-Morpho-Physiological Traits and SSR Markers for Detecting the Salt Tolerance of Advanced Spring Wheat Lines under Field Conditions

“…As a result, it enables the assessment of salt tolerance in genotypes by considering all the examined traits. Additionally, it assists in identifying the most influential trait that contributes the most to the overall variance and effectively distinguishes between salt-tolerant and sensitive genotypes [9,50,51]. The PCA results in this study successfully identified the screening criteria that effectively evaluate the salt tolerance of wheat genotypes under real field conditions.…”

Salinity inhibits seed germination and embryo growth by reducing starch mobilization efficiency in barley

“…Barley, as one of the most salt‐tolerant cereals, may be a pioneer in shifting crop production to saline lands. Therefore, much attention has been paid to breeding and deciphering the underlying mechanism of salt‐tolerant barley varieties (Gupta et al, 2022; Hura, 2020; Jadidi et al, 2022; Jiang et al, 2022; Munns & Tester, 2008). After growing in the solution or sand culture containing NaCl for 3 weeks, barley showed a higher increase of the shoot dry matter than other cereals, including rice ( Oryza sativa ), durum wheat ( Triticum turgidum ssp durum ), and bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) (Munns & Tester, 2008).…”

Recent Advancement on Physiological and Molecular Response to Cotton under Salt Stress: A Review

“…When the osmotic pressure within the cells falls, guard cell water outflow will result in stoma closure and the contraction of guard cells (Liu et al). This often results in salt stress leaves having higher Na + and Cl contents, lower K + contents, and eventually closing their stomas (Jadidi et al, 2022). The reduced stoma opening significantly decreases the intercellular CO2 concentration and photosynthetic rate, as well as CO2 diffusion from the environment to the chloroplast (Zou et al, 2022).…”