Determination of response to drought and salt stress on germination and early growth stage in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

In recently, climate change has a negative impact on wheat production worldwide. Abiotic stress factors such as drought and salinity come to the forefront. It is of great importance to identify and develop varieties resistant to these stress factors in the future. In this study, in order to determine the response of drought and salt stress in 5 bread wheat genotypes (Lok-1, Lucilla, RSP-561, Envoy and Wafia) during germination and early growth stage; was carried out according to completely randomized factorial design with three replications, at Cukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture in 2018. In the experiment, 4 different drought stresses (control, -0.2, -0.4, -0.6 MPa, by using PEG-6000 solution) and 4 different salinity stress (control, 4, 8 and 12 dS / m by using NaCl solution) was applied to bread wheat genotypes. In the research, root length, coleoptile length, shoot length, root fresh and dry weight, shoot fresh and dry weight, germination rate, seed vigor, relative water content, turgor weight, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoid, and total chlorophyll content and proline content were examined. According to the data obtained from the study, statistically, significant differences were observed in all other examined properties, except the root/shoot rate feature in salt and drought stress. Depending on increase in drought and salt stress, root length, shoot length, root fresh and dry weight, shoot fresh and dry weight, germination rate, seed vigor, relative water content, turgor weight, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoid, and total chlorophyll content was compared to control conditions, it was observed that these properties decreased. In the case, coleoptile length and proline content were increased. Among genotypes, the genotype RSP-561 was the best response to drought and salinity stress, whereas chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoid, and total chlorophyll were found to be positive in the Lok-1 variant. The Lucilla cultivar was found to be sensitive to drought and salinity. As a result of the research, an increase in drought and salinity dose negatively affected the bread wheat genotypes in germination and the early growth stage was caused an increase in the proline amount in resistant genotypes due to increased stress conditions.