Zulfiqar Ali

Genetic Basis of Salt Tolerance in Wheat: Selection Methodologies and Analyses Zulfiqar Ali

Salinity stress remains one of the world's oldest and the most serious environmental problem, which substantially hampers crop productivity in many arid and semi arid regions. Several reclamation measures like additions of gypsum, sulphur and sulphuric acid to soils, and construction of wells and drainage canals to reduce concentrations of salts in root zones had been advocated and used by many nations. However, these practices were discontinued due to escalating energy costs. The development of salt tolerant crop cultivars presents a possible alternative to expensive engineering approaches to bring saline lands under cultivation. The success of development of salt tolerant crop cultivars depends upon prebreeding research on the presence of genetic variation and its inheritance pattern. The present book, therefore, provides methodologies and analyses to examine the magnitude of genetic variation for salinity tolerance and its genetic basis in Triticum aestivum L.