Identification of molecular markers linked to salt-tolerant genes at germination stage of rice

An F-2:4 population derived from the cross between salt-tolerant variety 'Gharib' (indica) and salt-sensitive variety Sepidroud (indica) was used to determine the germination traits. The seeds were treated with 80mm NaCl (salt stress), and 11 traits were determined as indicators for salt-tolerant including germination rate, germination percentage, radicle length, plumule length, coleoptile length, plumule fresh and dry weight, radicle fresh and dry weight and coleoptile fresh and dry weight. A linkage map of 2475.7cM with an average interval of 10.48cM was constructed using 105 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers and 131 SSR markers. As many as that 17 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected related to germination traits under salt stress condition; some of them are being reported for first time. Also, overlapping of QTLs related to salt tolerance was observed in this study. The identification of genomic regions associated with salt-tolerant and its components under salt stress will be useful for marker-based approaches to improve salt-tolerant for farmers in salt-prone rice environments.