Varietal Variation and Effects of Some Major Genes on Salt Tolerance in Barley Seedlins

In order to select the salt tolerant cultivars, and to evaluate the effects of some major genes on salt tolerance in barley, 5,182 varieties and 368 isogenic lines were tested by exposing to 1.0 and 0.5M sodium chloride at the seedling stage. The average rating of salt tolerance was higher in varieties from Korea and Japan , but lower in varieties from Nepal and Southwest Asia. When the varieties were grouped by several morphological characters, six-rowed, covered, E type of nonbrittle rachis and uzu type groups were more tolerant than two-rowed, naked, W type and non-uzu type counterparts, respectively. A comparison between the isogenic pairs revealed that the uzu type was more tolerant than non-uzu type, but other major gene pairs did not show any obvious differences. These findings indicate that the uz gene affects the salt tolerance, and diferences between varietal groups characterized by other major genes are due to the difference in the genetic background among these varieties.