Evaluation of soluble carbohydrates remobilization and some physiological traits of different bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars under salt stress and non-stressed conditions

To study the effect of salinity stress on some physiological traits in wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.), a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replicates was performed at 2017 in the research greenhouse of Agronomy Department, University of Tehran. Salinity treatments at two levels; control (1.2 dS/m) and sodium chloride treatment (16 dS/m) and seven wheat cultivars, Rowshan, Inia-66, Mahdavi, Khazar-1, Karaj-2, Ghods and Shole were the experimental treatments. According to the results, relative water content, yield and its components and potassium/sodium ratio decreased in all genotypes while Na+ content and remobilization of carbohydrates were increased. Salt resistant varieties, Roshan and Inia-66, had the highest level of relative water content, remobilization of soluble carbohydrates and number of grains per spike. In addition, Roshan cultivar showed the highest potassium concentration and K+/Na+ in the shoots, while Ghods and Sholeh as sensitive cultivars had the highest sodium concentration in the shoots. Findings showed that the ability of a cultivar to remobilize soluble carbohydrates is one of the traits that determine salt stress tolerance, hence, this trait is suitable for evaluating salt tolerance of wheat cultivars in the future investigations.