FIGURE 1.

Salinity tolerance during vegetative growth window (i.e., tillering stage; V4 to V8) across the minimal comparative panel representing the full phenotypic range at EC = 9 dS m^–1 (IRRI) and EC = 12 dS m^–1 (Texas). (A) Comparison of plant health in control (C) and stress (S) experiments after 6 days (144 h) at EC = 12 dS m^–1. The outliers FL510 (super-tolerant) and FL499 (super-sensitive) are highlighted compared to tolerant parent Pokkali (Saltol donor), sensitive parent IR29, and tolerant sibling FL478 (see Table 1). Differences in injury and growth were evident particularly between the transgressive FL510 and FL499. (B) Individual physio-morphometric scores were normalized and combined as Aggregate Phenotypic Score (APS), which assumes equal weights of each parameter that includes Electrolyte Leakage Index (ELI) and its ratio (ELI ratio) at first injury (72 h) and maximum injury (144 h), shoot biomass ratio (stress/control), stomatal conductance ratio (stress/control), Na⁺/K⁺ at maximum injury (Na/K 144/0), Na⁺ ratio at maximum injury (Na 144/0), K⁺ ratio at maximum injury (K 144/0), slope of K⁺ and Na⁺ changes (control/stress), change in peroxidase activity (change-POX; stress/control), and change in lipid peroxidation (change-LP; stress/control). APS was plotted against the inverse of SES for direct proportionality. (C) Heat map showing the gradients of the normalized physio-morphometric scores across the comparative panel, presented from the worst to the best SES (inverted) according to the bar graph distribution across the population in (B). From this figure, traits that drag down the APS of a given genotype are more apparent. The genotypes with an asterisk (*) indicate the most transgressive lines in the population.