Salt‐tolerant Triticum×Lophopyrum derivatives limit the accumulation of sodium and chloride ions under saline‐stress

Cultivars of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum cvs. Chinese Spring or PI 178704) and derivatives containing chromosomes from both a cultivar and a wild, salt‐tolerant species (Lophopyrum elongatum or L. ponticum) were compared to determine differences in growth, ion transport and ion accumulation under salt‐stress. Two experiments were conducted in which plants were grown under saline and non‐saline conditions and harvested at various lime intervals throughout ontogeny. Under salt‐stress the growth rate of the cultivars, as compared to the growth rate of the derivatives, decreased more rapidly later in development. Transport rates from root to shoot of Na+ and Cl− reached higher levels in the cultivars. The cultivars accumulated more Na+ and Cl− and relatively less K+ in the shoot. The K+/Na+ ratio was higher in the derivatives than in the cultivars from which they were derived. The addition of chromosomes from Lophopyrum species into wheat altered ion accumulation, growth rates, and ion transport rates from root to shoot.