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Comparative growth and physiological responses of two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars differing in salt tolerance to salinity and cyclic drought stress

Abstract Two cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with differential salinity tolerance were compared by evaluating the growth attributes, pigment composition and accumulation of Na+, K+, Zn2+, Fe 2+, Mn 2+ and proline. Wheat cultivars Al-Moiaya (AM) (salt tolerant) and Habbe-Druma (HD) (salt sensitive) were subjected to four levels of salinity (1.21 dS m−1, 4.4 dS m−1, 8.8 dS m−1 and 13.2 dS m−1) in factorial combinations with three drought stress (FC 30%, FC 60% and FC 90%) treatments in a randomized complete block design. Plant dry weight, leaf area ratio (LAR), soluble protein and total chlorophyll (Chl) content were higher in AM than HD. Salt-tolerant AM maintains a higher K+/ Na+ ratio and thereby is able to grow better than the salt-sensitive HD under both the stresses. The lower foliar Na+ in AM resulted in retention of higher Chl content, reflected in the strong positive correlations between plant ion status and Chl contents (Na+-Chl r2 = 0.83; Chl- Fe2+ r2 = 0.76; Zn2+ r2 = 0.93 and Mn2+ r2 = 0.88). In conclusion, our results suggested that the K+/Na+ ratio, exclusion of Na+ and ion homeostasis play much more important roles in the tolerance to salinity and drought stress than the compatible osmolyte, proline.