Mokhtar Baraket* ⁽¹⁾ Hassine Marwa⁽²⁾ Olfa Ayed Slama⁽²⁾ Trifa Youssef⁽²⁾ Hajer Slim Amara⁽²⁾ and Karmous Chahine⁽²⁾

(1).National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry, Ariana, Tunisia.

(2).University of Carthage, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, LR14AGR01, Laboratory of Genetics and Cereal Breeding, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, Avenue Charles Nicolle 43, 1082 Tunis, Tunisia.

(*Corresponding author: Mokhtar Baraket. E-Mail: moktar.baraket@gmail.com).

Received: 10/04/2020                               Accepted: 29/05/2020

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify new sources of salt stress tolerance in durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) through mutations induced by gamma radiation. Therefore, the  irradiation of the seeds of the two most widely grown cultivars of Tunisia namely Karim and Rezzak was performed in order, to develop a new tolerant mutant of these two varieties, which  are well adapt to stress conditions with the best potential productivity. Two mutants, the first (K20/108/5) was derived from Karim and the second (R20/134/4) was derived from Rezzak using irrigation with NaCl. The plants were grown under controlled conditions using pots. It was observed that the two mutants have different tolerance mechanisms to NaCl, which were summarized by the modification of the root structure of R20/134/4 mutant. However, the mutant K20/108/5 had a distinct tolerance mechanisms that was mainly summarized in mechanisms that limited sodium entry under salt stress conditions by 34% compared to the parent. Key words: Durum wheat, Salt stress, Gamma irradiation.

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