Germinative performance of wheat cultivars under salt stress

It is estimated that over 20% of all cultivated land in the world has high salt levels and one of the least costly ways to mitigate this problem is to identify species that are tolerant to such conditions. In this context, this work aimed to evaluate the germination performance of two wheat cultivars ( Triticumaestivum L.) at different levels of simulated saline stress. The cultivars used were BRS Reponte and TbioSinuelo, sown on a paper substrate moistened with solutions of different NaCl saline concentrations (0.0; -0.2; -0.4; -0.6 and -0.8 MPa). The experimental factorial design consisted of 5 osmotic potentials x 2 cultivars with 4 replications for each cultivar. There is no significant difference between the germination performance of BRS Reponte and TbioSinuelo wheat seeds in response to salinity. Both cultivars had germination performances negatively affected by any potential higher than -0.2 MPa.