Wheat is the most important crop grown on many of world's saline and sodic soils, and breeding for improved salinity tolerance (ST) is the only feasible way of improving yield and yield stability under these conditions. There are a number of possible mechanisms by which cereals can tolerate high levels of salinity, but these can be considered in terms of Na + exclusion and tissue tolerance. Na + exclusion has been the focus of much of the recent work in wheat, but with relatively little progress to date in developing highyielding, salt-tolerant genotypes. Using a diverse collection of bread wheat germplasm, the present study was conducted to assess the value of tissue Na + concentration as a criterion for ST, and to determine whether ST differs with growth stage. Two experiments were conducted, the first with 38 genotypes and the second with 21 genotypes.A wide range of Na + concentrations within the roots and shoots as well as in ST were observed in both experiments. However, maintenance of growth and yield when grown with 100 mM NaCl was not correlated with the ability of a genotype to exclude Na + either from an individual leaf blade or from the whole shoot. The K + : Na + ratio also showed a wide range among the genotypes, but it did not explain the variation in ST among the genotypes. The results suggested that Na + exclusion and tissue tolerance varied independently, and there was no significant relationship between Na + exclusion and ST in bread wheat. Consequently, similar levels of ST may be achieved through different combinations of exclusion and tissue tolerance. Breeding for improved ST in bread wheat needs to select for traits related to both exclusion and tissue tolerance.

Plants modify metabolic processes for adaptation to low phosphate (P) conditions. Whilst transcriptomic analyses show that P deficiency changes hundreds of genes related to various metabolic processes, there is limited information available for global metabolite changes of P-deficient plants, especially for cereals. As changes in metabolites are the ultimate 'readout' of changes in gene expression, we profiled polar metabolites from both shoots and roots of P-deficient barley (Hordeum vulgare) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that mildly P-deficient plants accumulated di- and trisaccharides (sucrose, maltose, raffinose and 6-kestose), especially in shoots. Severe P deficiency increased the levels of metabolites related to ammonium metabolism in addition to di- and trisaccharides, but reduced the levels of phosphorylated intermediates (glucose-6-P, fructose-6-P, inositol-1-P and glycerol-3-P) and organic acids (alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate and malate). The results revealed that P-deficient plants modify carbohydrate metabolism initially to reduce P consumption, and salvage P from small P-containing metabolites when P deficiency is severe, which consequently reduced levels of organic acids in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. The extent of the effect of severe P deficiency on ammonium metabolism was also revealed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) quantitative analysis of free amino acids. A sharp increase in the concentrations of glutamine and asparagine was observed in both shoots and roots of severely P-deficient plants. Based on these data, a strategy for improving the ability of cereals to adapt to low P environments is proposed that involves alteration in partitioning of carbohydrates into organic acids and amino acids to enable more efficient utilization of carbon in P-deficient plants.

Worldwide, dryland salinity is a major limitation to crop production. Breeding for salinity tolerance could be an effective way of improving yield and yield stability on saline-sodic soils of dryland agriculture. However, this requires a good understanding of inheritance of this quantitative trait. In the present study, a doubled-haploid bread wheat population (Berkut/Krichauff) was grown in supported hydroponics to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with salinity tolerance traits commonly reported in the literature (leaf symptoms, tiller number, seedling biomass, chlorophyll content, and shoot Na(+) and K(+) concentrations), understand the relationships amongst these traits, and determine their genetic value for marker-assisted selection. There was considerable segregation within the population for all traits measured. With a genetic map of 527 SSR-, DArT- and gene-based markers, a total of 40 QTL were detected for all seven traits. For the first time in a cereal species, a QTL interval for Na(+) exclusion (wPt-3114-wmc170) was associated with an increase (10%) in seedling biomass. Of the five QTL identified for Na(+) exclusion, two were co-located with seedling biomass (2A and 6A). The 2A QTL appears to coincide with the previously reported Na(+) exclusion locus in durum wheat that hosts one active HKT1;4 (Nax1) and one inactive HKT1;4 gene. Using these sequences as template for primer design enabled mapping of at least three HKT1;4 genes onto chromosome 2AL in bread wheat, suggesting that bread wheat carries more HKT1;4 gene family members than durum wheat. However, the combined effects of all Na(+) exclusion loci only accounted for 18% of the variation in seedling biomass under salinity stress indicating that there were other mechanisms of salinity tolerance operative at the seedling stage in this population. Na(+) and K(+) accumulation appear under separate genetic control. The molecular markers wmc170 (2A) and cfd080 (6A) are expected to facilitate breeding for salinity tolerance in bread wheat, the latter being associated with seedling vigour.

Genetic variation in phosphorus (P) efficiency exists among wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes, but the underlying mechanisms for the variation remain elusive. High-and low-affinity phosphate (Pi) PHT1 transporters play an indispensable role in P acquisition and remobilization. However, little is known about genetic variation in PHT1 gene expression and association with P acquisition efficiency (PAE) and P utilization efficiency (PUE). Here, we present quantitative analyses of transcript levels of high-and low-affinity PHT1 Pi transporters in four barley genotypes differing in PAE. The results showed that there was no clear pattern in the expression of four paralogs of the high-affinity Pi transporter HvPHT1;1 among the four barley genotypes, but the expression of a low-affinity Pi transporter, HvPHT1;6, and its close homolog HvHPT1;3 was correlated with the genotypes differing in PUE. Interestingly, the expression of HvPHT1;6 and HvPHT1;3 was correlated with the expression of HvIPS1 (for P starvation inducible; noncoding RNA) but not with HvIPS2, suggesting that HvIPS1 plays a distinct role in the regulation of the low-affinity Pi transporters. In addition, high PUE was found to be associated with high root-shoot ratios in low-P conditions, indicating that high carbohydrate partitioning into roots occurs simultaneously with high PUE. However, high PUE accompanying high carbon partitioning into roots could result in low PAE. Therefore, the optimization of PUE through the modification of low-affinity Pi transporter expression may assist further improvement of PAE for low-input agriculture systems.