Combining ability for germination and seedling establishment characters in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under normal and saline environments

Abstract

The material for the present study was developed by crossing seven genetically diverse lines of bread wheat namely Kalyansona, Kharchia 65, KRL 1-4, Raj 1114, Raj 3077, Wt 222 and Wt 245 in half-diallel fashion. The resultant F1S and F2S along with the parents were evaluated in laboratory for their response to salinity. For this purpose, 10 seeds of each parentiF1/F2 were sown per petridish which was layered with Whatman filter paper 40 and sterilised. Three such dishes for each parent and F1 and six for each F2 were prepared. The dishes were irrigated with Hoagland's solution [1]. The entire experiment was replicated 3 times and was evaluated in two environments created by supplementing Hoagland's solution with 0 and 10 g NaCI 1-1. The corresponding ECe values were 1.8 dSm-1 and 15.5 dSm-1. The entire set was maintained for 10 days in growth chambers at 25°C. For the first 3 days, the dishes were kept under dark, later-on in bright light for 12 h daily. On the 11th day the seedlings were harvested and observations were recorded in each petridish/replications/environment for germination percentage, coleoptile length (cm), seedling height (cm), and fresh and dry weights of seedling (g).