article · Plants
Soil salinity presents a growing barrier to crop productivity. To address this, 18 prescreened maize hybrid cultivars were evaluated under hydroponic conditions across 28 days under normal and salt-stressed environments. Across 18 morpho-physiological and ion-accumulation traits analysed, salinity significantly decreased all measured parameters except the root-shoot ratio. The cultivars displayed varying responses and were categorised into three distinct clusters using salt tolerance index values. Six specific hybrids, namely Prabhat, UniGreen NK41, Bisco 51, UniGreen UB100, Bharati 981, and Star Beej 7Star, demonstrated the highest levels of salt tolerance. In addition, 13 measured traits exhibited high heritability and genetic advance, confirming notable underlying genetic variation. Parameters including total fresh weight, total dry weight, total sodium, total potassium, and the potassium-to-sodium ratio were highlighted as effective screening criteria for identifying salt-tolerant maize at early seedling stages.
Rising soil salinity limits crop growth and undermines global agricultural productivity. Identifying resilient maize hybrids and defining clear physiological markers allows plant breeders to target salt tolerance effectively. This knowledge helps pinpoint crop varieties that can maintain productivity in soils degraded by salinity, supporting food security initiatives in affected agricultural regions.
This early-stage research benefits plant breeders and commercial seed companies seeking to develop or market salt-resilient maize varieties. The identified traits, particularly seedling biomass and potassium-sodium balances, provide screening criteria to accelerate selective breeding programmes. Because evaluations were restricted to 28-day hydroponic trials, further field-level agronomic testing is required before these specific hybrids can be commercialised as proven salt-tolerant seed lines.
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Increasing soil salinity due to global warming severely restricts crop growth and yield. To select and recommend salt-tolerant cultivars, extensive genotypic screening and examination of plants' morpho-physiological responses to salt stress are required. In this study, 18 prescreened maize hybrid cultivars were examined at the early growth stage under a hydroponic system using multivariate analysis to demonstrate the genotypic and phenotypic variations of the selected cultivars under salt stress. The seedlings of all maize cultivars were evaluated with two salt levels: control (without NaCl) and salt stress (12 dS m<sup>-1</sup> simulated with NaCl) for 28 d. A total of 18 morpho-physiological and ion accumulation traits were dissected using multivariate analysis, and salt tolerance index (STI) values of the examined traits were evaluated for grouping of cultivars into salt-tolerant and -sensitive groups. Salt stress significantly declined all measured traits except root-shoot ratio (RSR), while the cultivars responded differently. The cultivars were grouped into three clusters and the cultivars in Cluster-1 such as Prabhat, UniGreen NK41, Bisco 51, UniGreen UB100, Bharati 981 and Star Beej 7Star exhibited salt tolerance to a greater extent, accounting for higher STI in comparison to other cultivars grouped in Cluster-2 and Cluster-3. The high heritability (h<sup>2</sup><sub>bs</sub>, >60%) and genetic advance (GAM, >20%) were recorded in 13 measured traits, indicating considerable genetic variations present in these traits. Therefore, using multivariate analysis based on the measured traits, six hybrid maize cultivars were selected as salt-tolerant and some traits such as Total Fresh Weight (TFW), Total Dry Weight (TDW), Total Na<sup>+</sup>, Total K<sup>+</sup> contents and K<sup>+</sup>-Na<sup>+</sup> Ratio could be effectively used for the selection criteria evaluating salt-tolerant maize genotypes at the early seedling stage.
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DOI: 10.3390/plants10112549
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