The key genomic regions harboring QTLs associated with salinity tolerance in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.): a comprehensive review

Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal grain crops and losses grain yield exceeds over 60% due to salinity stress. Now, it is imperative to develop a comprehensive understanding of salt tolerance contrivances and the assortment of reliable tolerance indices is crucial for breeding salt-tolerant wheat cultivars. The mapping of reliable quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and better understanding of the physiological and molecular basis of salt tolerance have revealed new horizons for the development of salt-tolerant wheat cultivars. From the studies carried out in bread wheat, we have summarized the various information such as screening methods, evaluation parameters, key genomic regions (harboring QTLs/QTNs) and salt responsive candidate genes demarcated through bi-parental and genome wide association mapping strategies. The highly consistent QTLs were for plant height, grain yield, thousand grain weight, Na + and K + that should be validated using molecular techniques. We hope this review will serve as an important reference guide for scientific community as well as wheat breeders to select the QTLs for MAS to improve the wheat genotypes for salinity tolerance.