Abstract only

Soil salinity is a major abiotic constraint to wheat production and productivity in many parts of Central Asia. The problem of soil salinity is likely to aggravate in the region under the climate change scenario. Winter wheat varieties tolerant to soil salinity could help increase wheat productivity as well as bring new area under cultivation. Three sets of improved winter and facultative wheat genotypes were evaluated in replicated yield trials at five sites in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. These included two experiments conducted under non-saline (less than 4 dS/m) and medium saline conditions (5 to 10 dS/m) in the adjacent fields in Karshi and Urgench, Uzbekistan in 2012. Soil salinity significantly influenced performance of wheat genotypes at both locations. Several agronomic traits were significantly negatively affected by salinity causing substantial reductions in grain yield at each site. Mean grain yield was reduced by 21.2 and 23.7% in Karshi and Urgench, respectively. There were significant reductions in plant height, peduncle length, number of tillers plant-1, number of spike m-2, and spike length. Wheat genotypes greatly differed in grain yield both under saline and non-saline conditions. There were a number of genotypes that produced relatively higher yield under both saline and non-saline conditions. A number of experimental genotypes were identified at individual saline sites which out-performed significantly (p<0.05) the local checks in grain yield. The highest yielding lines in different experiments produced 25 to 107% higher grain yield than the local check. These lines were ?Pyn/Bau/3/Agri/Bjy//Vee (TCI961547:-0SE-0YC-18E-0E-5K-0YK)?, ?00247G6-106?, ?Vorona/HD2402//Albat Odesskiy (TCI960735:-0AP-0YC-3E-0E- 1K-0YK-4E-0E?), ?Cham-6*2/SW 2 (EN 117)? and ?Cham-6*2/SW 2 (EN 124)?. Several genotypes that possessed higher grain yield than the local check in addition to acceptable to superior agronomic traits were further tested in the yield trials in 2012. A few selected promising lines are under evaluation in further yield trials in 2013. Some of the selected lines showed enhanced frost tolerance. These results are encouraging and could lead to identification of new improved varieties for wheat cultivation on soils with medium salinity in Central Asia. The findings have implications for other winter and facultative wheat growing regions with problem of soil salinity

Global Wheat Program

English

Lucia Segura

INT1787

CIMMYT Staff Publications Collection