Siphoning novel sources of seedling salinity tolerance from the diverse chickpea landraces

Context Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) are highly sensitive to elevated salinity, particularly at initial seedling establishment stage. Seedling screening would be an effective means to identify novel sources of donors for salt tolerance. Aim This study aimed to identify salt stress tolerant genotypes at seedling stage from 50 chickpea accessions. Methods The screening of 50 chickpea accessions was done under two salinity conditions including salt stress (8 dS m-1) and control (no salt stress). Accessions were studied for morphological traits, root system architectural analysis, and CSTI (Cumulative salt tolerance index). Further, principal component analysis was conducted to validate these results for more accuracy and reliability. Key results For morphological traits, a high degree of genetic variation was seen among genotypes, and root traits were found to be the better indicators of salt stress tolerance. CSTI was used to classify the accessions; 22 (44%) were identified as salt sensitive, 21 (42%) were found to be moderately salt tolerant, and 7 (14%) had moderate to high salt tolerance. The most salt tolerant and salt sensitive genotypes were found to be ICCV10 and ILC5595, respectively. Conclusions Early seedling screening has a great potential to identify genotypes with robust root systems, which can withstand salinity. Implications We used a novel approach to classify chickpea landraces based on the combination of CSTI and principal component analysis methods. By choosing suitable donors and prospective genotypes at early growth stages, the knowledge gathered from this study may aid scientists and chickpea breeders in developing salt tolerant cultivars.