Romania's significant wheat production capacity, ranking among the top European and global producers, underscores its crucial role in contributing to food security. Addressing the challenge of soil salinization is essential for sustaining agricultural productivity in Romania, and testing wheat varieties for salinity tolerance represents a promising strategy to mitigate the negative impact of this abiotic stress. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted to test the tolerance and adaptability of the Esențial wheat variety to six gradually increasing saline doses under field conditions. The observed trends were unexpectedly indicative of the growth and development parameters, including plant height and spike length, which recorded the best performance at 75 mM NaCl, while the greatest increase in awn length occurred at 45 mM NaCl. Chlorophyll content varied throughout the experiment, initially peaking at 45 mM NaCl but ultimately being highest at 75 mM NaCl. Moreover, productivity parameters, except for water percentage, also demonstrated their peak performance at 75 mM NaCl. The highest water percentage was observed in plats tested with 30 mM NaCl. Additional research should explore the salinity tolerance of different wheat varieties under a range of saline levels to enhance the understanding of their adaptive responses and to pinpoint the most resilient varieties for cultivation in saline-affected areas.

Leaf greenness, saline dosage, stress adaptation, threshold effect, wheat growth

agronomy

Presentation: poster