Assessment of salt tolerance in Algerian oasis wheat landraces: An examination of biochemical, physiological, and agronomical traits

Wheat landraces cultivated in the oases of Algeria are are know for their resistance to abiotic stresses as a result of the extreme environmental constraints of the Sahara. As such, these landraces represent valuable breeding material for improving abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. This study was conducted to evaluate salt tolerance of bread and durum wheat from the Algerian oases. Ten wheat landraces from the Algerian oases were grown under prolonged salinity stress (150 mM NaCl) in greenhouse conditions. Data were assessed for 19 physiological, biochemical, and agronomical traits. The wheat landraces exhibited considerable variation in their salinity stress tolerance. The membership function value of salt tolerance identified Oum RokbaElhamra, Khellouf and Zeghlou as the most tolerant landraces while Bourione was identified as sensitive. The salt-tolerant and moderately tolerant wheat landraces maintained stable yields under conditions of salinity stress. Regression models constructed from MFVS and salt tolerance coefficients showed that for bread wheat, amino acid content and grain yield accounted for most of the variation in MFVS, while for durum wheat, the number of grains per plant and Na+ content explained the majority of observed differences in MFVS. Correlation analysis showed that the MFVS was significantly associated with grain yield, selectivity between K+ and Na+, and plant height. The results confirm that Algerian oasis wheat landraces are a valuable source given their salt tolerance and could be utilized in breeding programs seeking to improve salinity stress resilience in wheat.