Ali Raza1*, Ali Hassan1, Shaheen Abbas1, Waqas Razzaq2, Shahzaib Hazoor1, Muhammad Nosherwan1, Abdul Rehman1 and Iftikhar Ali1*
1Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics (PGB), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Punjab, Pakistan 2University of Avignon, France
*Corresponding author: iftikhar.ali@iub.edu.pk (IA); alizraza005@gmail.com (AR)
Increased soil salinity due to climate change and poor irrigation practices has detrimental effects on the maize seedling stage than lateral growth phases. Therefore, this experiment evaluated maize's morphological and physiological response to salinity by screening tolerant genotypes. Six hybrids were grown in plastic pots in a warehouse using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Ten-day-old seedlings were subjected to controlled salinity stress (control, 4, 7, and 10dS/m NaCl). Significant differences (p<0.05) were revealed in all genotypes, treatments, and their interaction by analysis of variance. The mean comparison of parameters exhibited the maximum reduction in chlorophyll content (80.4%), shoot length (55.4%), and shoot fresh weight (54%) and the least reduction in root fresh weight (30.73%) at 10dS/m salt application. Under the highest salinity stress, the strong association among shoot fresh weight, shoot length, root dry weight, shoot dry weight, stomatal conductance, and root length shows these parameters have a common genetic base; improvement in one trait can boost another, resulting in improved salinity stress. While PCA analysis demonstrated that fresh root-to-shoot weight, chlorophyll content, root fresh weight, stomatal conductance, leaf area, and relative water content is effective parameters for evaluating and identifying resilient germplasm under salinity stress. Among investigated hybrids, Pak Afghoi SG-2002 and S-2266 were tolerant, while Sohni Dharti-626 was susceptible, demonstrating the spectrum of adaptability and susceptibility within genotypes. Biochemical and genetic analysis of tolerant genotypes can be utilized to get an expanded outlook of gene regulatory mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance.