Study on response to selection in different generations of sugar beet under saline and drought stress conditions

Saline and drought stress conditions are the most important factors in yield reduction of crops in the world. Breeding of cultivars with high tolerance to these stresses and satisfactory yielding are considerable. The aim of this study was to compare the means of selected generations in saline and drought stress conditions in order to calculate response to selection. In this study two populations (8001 and 7233) and their successive generations which were selected based on tolerance to salinity, as well as two breeding materials (BP-Karaj and BP-Mashad) and their generations which were selected for tolerance to drought stress were evaluated under stress conditions. The results showed that response to selection in 8001 sequential generation was higher than that of 7233 in saline condition and selection has increased the root and sugar yield. Also, selection for drought tolerance in BP-karaj and BP-Mashad has increased the tolerance. It seems that, this method of selection was useful for the improvement of these populations in stress conditions.