Abstract
A total of 6, 712 barley varieties and 368 isogenic lines were germinated in 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 % NaCl solution to select the salt tolerant varieties and to evaluate the effects of some major genes on salt tolerance. In general, the varieties from China and Korea were more tolerant than the varieties from Turkey and Japan. When the varieties were grouped by several agromorphological characters, the six-rowed, naked, Oriental type of nonbrittle rachis and non-uzu type groups were more tolerant than the two-rowed, covered, Occidental type and uzu or semi-brachytic type counterparts, respectively. Comparing between isogenic pairs, it was revealed that the six-rowed (v), naked (n) and nonuzu (UZ ) types were more tolerant than their counterparts. These findings indicated that v, n and uz genes affected salt tolerance. A high correlation between the reactions to NaCl and polyethylene glycol treatments revealed that salt stress on germination was mainly due to the osmotic stlress. Many of the highly salt tolerant varieties were Chinese six-rowed ones, while most of the highly sensitive varieties were from West Asia with two-rowed and black lemma. Some of the most tolerant varieties could germinate even in sea water. Salt tolerance at the germination stage was independent of the salt tolerance of seedl ings
