Screening of Maize Germplasm on the base of Morphological and Physiological Parameters under Salinity Stress

Abstract

Drought and salinity are two major environmental factors that reduce plant productivity. Many factors interrelate and alter the effect of salinity such as soil fertility, humidity, ambient temperature, light, irrigation, and so on. Generally, the survival and growth of plants are measured to determine the tolerance of plants to salinity. The current experimental study was executed to identify the best suitable maize germplasm for salt affected areas based on their performance. This experiment was conducted at the weir house of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur using the CRD with their replications to determine the selection criteria for salt tolerant maize genotypes at the seedling stage using Chlorophyll Content, Root length, Shoot length, Root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, Root dry weight, Shoot dry weight and Root shoot ratio. The 06 genotypes were assessed under normal and heat stress using factorial Complete Randomized design. Analysis of variance showed a significant and non-significant variation among the studied germplasms. The root fresh weight and shoot fresh weight were correlated with root dry weight and shoot dry weight under both normal and stress conditions. So, selection on the base of these traits enhances the performance of other traits. The root length and chlorophyll content were non-significant and negatively associated with all other studied characters. The results recommended that selection for root length and chlorophyll content could not be suitable for salinity tolerance. The genotypes which performed good under salinity stress conditions can be useful in future maize breeding programs, and evaluation of salinity stress tolerant germplasm on the base of studied traits.