Work

Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) germplasm characterization and traits sensitivity to salinity stress under multi-environment field conditions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Linseed, also known as flaxseed, is an ancient and immensely valuable crop to human society for its industrial and nutraceutical applications. Insufficient efforts have been put together to grow linseed in salt-affected agro-ecosystems which may reduce the competition for land and water with other staple food crops. Therefore, in the present study, 2574 linseed accessions were evaluated under normal fertile and natural saline soils for two consecutive years (2020 –21 & 2021–22) to assess the salt tolerance potential of germplasm and identify key traits as reliable screening parameters for salinity stress. Salinity significantly reduced normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) by 20 %, seed yield/plant (50.21 %), total number of capsules/plant (41.27 %), plant height (35.05 %), and thousand seed weight (9.89 %), while days to maturity were shortened by 8.05 % in comparison to optimum conditions. The high heritability (≥ 60 %) combined with high genetic advance over mean (≥ 20 %) were evident for traits such as plant height, capsules/plant, thousand seed weight, and seed yield/plant. A stepwise regression analysis predicted NDVI, plant height, seed yield, and its attributes contributed significantly to the salt tolerance index (STI), and determined 78 % of the STI variation. Additionally, for enhanced utilization of diverse genetic resources of linseed, a subset ‘Reference set for salinity tolerance’ comprising 396 genotypes was assembled based on STI. The quality evaluation of the reference set based on descriptive statistics, PCA, and correlation demonstrated the capture of the whole range of genetic variation representing the entire collection. The reference set and salinity-tolerant linseed genotypes identified in the present work can be utilized as donors for genetic enhancement and can play a crucial role in increasing agricultural productivity in salt-affected agro-ecosystems. • Genebank germplasm comprising 2574 linseed accessions was evaluated for salinity tolerance and identify key traits. • Salinity stress significantly reduced seed yield, number of capsules, plant height, and thousand seed weight. • NDVI, plant height, seed yield, and component traits contributed significantly to the salt tolerance index. • A ‘Reference Set for Salinity Tolerance’ comprising 396 genotypes was assembled for utilisation in linseed GWAS. • Salinity-tolerant genotypes were identified as potential donors for breeding to enhance productivity in salt-affected areas.

Source: Industrial Crops and Products

DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.120668