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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Improvement Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #420917
Research Project: Improvement of Disease and Pest Resistance in Barley, Durum, Oat, and Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Improvement Research

Title: Deciphering the genetic basis of salt stress tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) through association studies and SNP-based haplotype analysis

Author
item GUDI, SANTOSH - North Dakota State University
item GILL, HARSIMARDEEP - South Dakota State University
item COLLINS, SERENA - University Of California, Riverside
item SINGH, JATINDER - North Dakota State University
item Sandhu, Devinder
item SEHGAL, SUNISH - South Dakota State University
item UPINDER, GILL - North Dakota State University
item Gupta, Rajeev

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2024
Publication Date: 1/10/2025
Citation: Gudi, S., Gill, H., Collins, S., Singh, J., Sandhu, D., Sehgal, S., Upinder, G., Gupta, R. 2025. Deciphering the genetic basis of salt stress tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) through association studies and SNP-based haplotype analysis. Meeting Abstract. Poster No. PO0414.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Salt stress affects the growth, development, and yielding ability of wheat cultivars in the major wheat growing areas of world. Understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms of salt stress tolerance is important to develop resilient wheat cultivars with improved yield under salt affected soils. In present study, we evaluated a subset of exome sequenced panel comprising 228 hexaploid spring wheat accessions using normal irrigation water (with electrical conductivity of ECiw = 1.46 dS m-1)) and salt water (with electrical conductivity of ECiw = 14 dS m-1) in greenhouse lysimeters at the US Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, CA. Salt stress significantly reduced shoot height (17.45%), root length (15.51%), tiller number (43.83%), shoot weight (44.61%), and root weight (35.82%) compared to control. However, there was a significant increase in root length by shoot height ratio (3.75%) and root weight by shoot weight ratio (28.02%) under salt stress. Based on seedling traits and their stress tolerance indices, six highly salt-tolerant and six highly salt-sensitive lines were identified. Moreover, multi-locus genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using 297,104 SNPs and linkage disequilibrium (LD) based grouping identified 25 high-confidence QTLs. Candidate gene mining from flanking genomic regions spanning QTLs and expression analysis identified five putative genes associated with enhanced salt stress tolerance. Furthermore, the SNP-based haplotype analysis identified superior haplotypes responsible for improved salt stress tolerance. Putative genes and the superior haplotypes identified in this study can be employed in future breeding program to develop salt-resilient wheat varieties suitable for saline soil or coastal areas.