Improvement of durum wheat salinity tolerance by intergeneric hybridization of Triticum durum x Hordeum marinum

Wild species with valuable genetic heritage was used long time ago in interspecific crosses to improve cultivated plants adaptation to environmental constraints. The objective of this study is to transfer the salinity tolerance of Hordeum marinum, a wild barley species, to three durum wheat varieties (Karim, Razzek and Nasr) by intergeneric crosses. In order to skip the incompatibility between these species, in vitro immature embryo rescue was performed using B5 medium (Gamborg et al., 1968). The results showed that the genotype has an important effect on the success of the crosses and the rate of regenerated plants. We have found that 34.21% of the embryos derived from hybridization Razzek x Hordeum marinum has regenerated haploid plantlets, 5.88% for Karim x Hordeum marinum cross, and 2.78% for Nasr x Hordeum marinum.
The obtained chromosomal stock of the hybrid haploid plants was doubled by colchicine treatment concentrated at 0.05%. The rate of doubled haploid plants were reduced after colchicine treatment to 26.32% for Razzek x Hordeum marinum cross, 0% for Karim crossed with Hordeum marinum and remained unchanged for Nasr x Hordeum marinum.
The doubled haploids obtained are subjected to salt stress (6-12 g/l) in order to evaluate their tolerance to salinity.