In Vitro Screening for Salinity Tolerance in Garden Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the abiotic stress factors gaining importance in recent years due to the changing climate and rising temperatures. This possesses a serious risk to food security worldwide and a range of adaptations and mitigation strategies are required. Crop improvement through breeding is a possible solution to overcome salinity stress. In this respect, a study was designed to screen a collection from garden pea accessions to salinity tolerance in in vitro conditions. We analyzed the effects of four salinity levels (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) on seed germination, seedling emergence, shoot and root lengths, and plant fresh weight in 22 garden pea genotypes. Data showed that more of the pea genotypes are able to tolerate 50 mM NaCl concentration. The increasing of salt levels to 100 and 200 mM NaCl caused a significant decrease in germination and reduced the length and weight of shoots and roots. Among the genotypes, varieties Uspeh 72, Paldin, and Flora 6 were highly sensitive to salinity stress, while varieties Prometey, Musala, and Zornitsa were distinguished as more tolerant. The results depicted that salinity treatments had a more negative effect on plant growth than on seed germination, which is probably due to the in vitro conditions in which the experiments were conducted. The studied accessions of garden pea were sensitive to salt stress; nevertheless, some tolerant accessions were identified.