Evaluating of salinity stress in sugar beet half-sib families under field and greenhouse experiment

Genetic variation of sugar beet plants for salinity tolerance assessed undergreenhouse and field conditions. 34 sugar beet half-sib families with high tolerantto drought were screened for seedling growth characteristics in the greenhouseexperiment under saline (16 dS.m-1) and normal condition and, based on ranking,a subset of 10 tolerant genotypes were selected for evaluating under saline fieldcondition (12 dS.m-1). In the field experiment, yield-related traits, Na+, K+, andα-amino-N nitrogen contents were recorded. The results showed that droughttolerantgenotypes had a different tolerance level under salt stress. There waswide variation in all the characters studied and the strongest inhibition (71.87%) was observed for the final establishment percentage (EP2) in the greenhouseexperiment. A significant correlation was observed between EP2s and salttolerant index EP2 (STIEP2) in the greenhouse with root yield in saline fieldconditions. This association indicates that a simple measurement at 16 dS.m-1in the greenhouse should be possible as the main part of a sugar beet breedingprogram for identifying more salt-tolerant genotypes. In total, genotypes SBSIDRI-HSF14-P.23 (# 16) and 436B-HSF9-P.27 (# 26) were recognized as salt anddrought tolerant genotypes with low Na+ and K+ contents in root and high whitesugar content (WSC) and root yield in the field. Further studies in the greenhouseand field as well are required using a larger panel of genotypes to validate this kindof association.

Keywords:

salinity tolerance , field condition , screening , sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.)