Determination of the most effective traits on wheat yield under saline stress

Salinity stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses which reduce the crop production in worldwide and breeding for salinity tolerance maybe result in improving wheat seed yield under saline conditions in arid and semi-arid areas agriculture. Identification of effective yield-related traits is the main aim of each breeding program. In this research, the relationship between wheat seed yield and its components under saline condition were investigated by using four statistical procedures including; simple correlation, multiple linear regression, stepwise regression and path analysis. The experiment was conducted under saline field conditions at the research field of the National Salinity Research Center (NSRC) at Yazd, Iran based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Electrical conductivity of irrigation water was 10 ds.m-1. The multiple statistical procedures which have been used in this study indicated that biological yield, harvest index and chlorophyll content were the most effective variables influencing seed yield. Based on the results, it seems that high yield of wheat plants under saline field conditions can be obtained by selecting breeding materials with high biological yield, harvest index and chlorophyll content. This suggests that evaluation for salt tolerance among genotypes can be based on the genetic diversity in biological yield, harvest index and chlorophyll content.