Genetic structure of germination parameters in Iranian wheat RILs under salinity stress

In order to increase global wheat production, it is necessary to examine different ways of increasing yield. One of the solutions is to identify the genes that control different stress tolerance indices. This research aims to identify the genes controlling quantitative traits under normal conditions and salt stress in the germination stage. The experiments were carried out in a factorial form using a completely randomized design with 3 replications, on 107 lines resulted from the crossing of Gonbad and Zagros cultivars at Gonbad Kavous University, 2021. A linkage map was obtained using 519 SSR, 8 CAAT, 33 IJS, 47 iPBS, 3 IRAP, 17 RAPD, 8 SCoT and 12 ISSR markers on 21 wheat chromosomes. The length of the linkage map was 4918.94 cM and the distance between two adjacent markers about 5.55 cM. A total of 84 QTLs were detected in normal and salinity stress conditions (control, 6 dS/m, 12 dS/m), of which seven QTLs were related to control condition, 42 QTLs were related to 6 dS/m salinity stress and 35 QTLs were related to 12 dS/m stress condition. qLR-B3, qMGT-A5, qR/SDW-B2, qR/SDW-A3, qR/SDW-B7, qLS-A5 and qILVS-A5 were detected under control condition. qSLI-D6 was identified as a major QTL for SLI under 6 dS/m salinity stress by explaining more than 44% of the phenotypic variation of the trait. In the 12 dS/m salinity stress, several gene loci of large effect QTLs were detected, among which qIWVS-B3 explained more than 55% of the phenotypic diversity of the trait. After validation, the results of this research can introduce suitable candidates for marker-assisted selection programs in the population of Iranian wheat RILs.