Salinity stress severely limits garlic ( Allium sativum L.) yield by affecting plant growth, physiology, and bulb development. In field conditions, reproducing the same salinity stress each year is not possible, which restricts efficient parental selection and slows the pace of breeding salinity-tolerant genotypes. Thus, in the present study, 36 garlic genotypes were evaluated under control and salinity stress (EC iw ≈ 7 dS m - ¹) for morpho-physiological and biochemical traits. Based on yield reduction under salinity stress compared to control, six genotypes (G-304, Yamuna Safed-8, G-1, Yamuna Safed-3, G-324, and Yamuna Purple-10) were identified as salt-tolerant, maintaining the yield loss below 15%. Under salinity stress, Na + /K + ratio and oxidative stress markers H 2 O 2 and MDA increased in all genotypes; however, susceptible genotypes suffered severe membrane damage and higher yield losses. In contrast, tolerant genotypes showed higher antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POX) activity than susceptible genotypes, which helped them mitigate salt stress. In the final step, stepwise regression was applied to determine the most reliable trait for screening salt tolerance in garlic genotypes. It was found that equatorial diameter was the primary determinant of bulb yield in garlic under stress as well as under control conditions, while ionic traits, specifically bulb Na + /K + , also contributed significantly to bulb yield under stress. The identified tolerant genotypes and key traits provide valuable resources for breeding salinity-tolerant garlic cultivars.
Sanwal et al. (Tue,) studied this question.