Effect of salinity on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain yield, yield components and ion uptake

Crops growing in salt-affected soils may suffer from physiological drought stress, ion toxicity, and mineral deficiency. a pot study was conducted in 2004-2005 in the aghala area (northern iran) to study the effect of different salinity levels, i.e. ece= 3 (control), 8, 12 and 16 ds m^-1 on wheat grain, yield components and leaf ion uptake of four iranian wheat genotypes, i.e. kouhdasht, atrak, rasoul and tajan. treatments were replicated three times in a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement. desired salinity levels were obtained by mixing adequate nacl before filling the pots. soil water was maintained at 70% of available water holding capacity. results revealed that kouhdasht and tajan showed highest and lowest grain yield and its components as compared to other cultivars at different salinity levels. leaf na^+ and cl^- concentrations of all genotypes increased significantly with increasing soil salinity, with the highest concentrations in tajan, followed by rasoul, atrak and kouhdasht cultivars, respectively. highest leaf k^+ concentration and k^+: na^+ ratio were observed in kouhdasht cultivar, followed by atrak, rasoul and tajan, respectively. therefore, kouhdasht and atrak were identified as the most salt-tolerant genotypes as compared to two other wheat genotypes.