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Salinity–Grain Yield Response Functions of Barley Cultivars Assessed with a Drip‐Injection Irrigation System
Author(s) -
Royo A.,
Arag u ¨ és R.,
Playán E.,
Ortiz R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2000.641359x
Subject(s) - salinity , cultivar , soil salinity , seeding , agronomy , irrigation , drip irrigation , mathematics , grain yield , yield (engineering) , hordeum vulgare , zoology , biology , poaceae , physics , ecology , thermodynamics
Success in breeding crops for yield and other quantitative traits depends on the use of convenient methods to accurately evaluate genotypes under field conditions. We report the evaluation of a drip‐injection irrigation system (DIS) for assessing the salt tolerance of barley genotypes. Ten barley cultivars were randomized within each of nine salinities imposed by a DIS in an experiment with two replications. Grain yields were regressed against soil salinity (EC e ) using a sigmoidal growth response model to obtain the statistics Y m , EC e50 , and p. The data fitted the model well; the average correlation coefficient was 0.89 ( P < 0.001) when the observations for each cultivar in both replications were pooled, and the average SEs were <12% of the mean Y m and EC e50 estimates. We concluded that the DIS is a reliable system for estimating the salinity response functions of barley. The grain yields obtained in the control( EC e = 4 dS m − 1)and intermediate( EC e = 9 dS m − 1)soil salinity were highly correlated (r = 0.81, P < 0.01), indicating that the highest‐yielding cultivars under nonsaline conditions were also most productive under intermediate saline conditions. However, yields at high soil salinity( EC e = 17 dS m − 1)were not correlated with the control yields. For the same set of genotypes, the estimates of EC e50 obtained with the DIS and with a triple‐line source system (TLS) were strongly correlated (r = 0.84, P < 0.01), even though the direct absorption of salts by the leaves, which is a feature of the TLS, had a deleterious effect on grain yields. Results from the DIS trial( m e a n E C e 50 = 13 . 1 dS m − 1 ) suggest that the salt tolerance of barley quoted in the literature for similar climatic conditions( EC e 50 = 18 dS m − 1)could be overestimated by 40%.