Mapping of Tolerant Salinity QTLs in the Progeny of Gaspard and Kharchia Cultivars in Bread Wheat

For QTL mapping of related salt tolerance QTLs and determining the contribution of each QTL to phenotypic variation, a population consisting of 96 F2:3 families derived from the cross Kharchia (parent tolerant) and Gaspard (susceptible parent) were evaluated during 2 years. Of the 92 microsatellite markers used to evaluate parents, 32 markers were polymorphic which were used for analysis. Three QTLs were found according to mapping composite interval method for plant height trait, which were located on chromosome 7D , 3B and 4B. In total, these QTLs explained 37 percent of phenotypic variation. Also, 3 QTLs were found on chromosome 7B and 7D for the size of seedling, which accounted for 38 percent of phenotypic variance were identified. For number of grains per spike and grain weight per main spike traits, 2 QTLs on chromosome 7D and 2 QTL for seed number trait on chromosome 4B. One QTL was found on chromosome 7D for each of the internode number and internode length traits which explained 12 and 11% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. For each of the number of spikelets, fertile tiller and spike length traits 1 QTL was found on chromosome 4B which explained 12% of the phenotypic variation. Genetic analysis of complex traits such as tolerance to salinity and identification of genetic locations controlling quantitative traits allow marker-assisted selection and ultimately improve the selection efficiency.