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Cold resistance evaluation
Wilting degrees of 126 accessions were equal to or lower than that of cheek Dongfanghong 3 (wilting degree 3). Among them, the CRI of about 86 accessions were equal to or higher than that of cheek Dongfanghong 3 (CRI=1), such as Jinfeng 1, Ji 82-4255, Shi 83-5307 and Tang 85-5032 etc. Twenty-seven accessions have advanced comprehensive agronomic characteristics, such as Tang 84-6054, Jimai 17, and Luoting 1840 etc. The CRI of about 59 accessions (wilting degree equal to or lower than cheeks) were equal to or higher than that of both Dongfanghong 3 and Taishan 1, such as Tang 85-5032, Shi 81-5090, Heng 87-6105, Heng 86-5001, Tang 85-6148, Jizi 88-4295, Hebei 1 and Jizixixuan 3 etc.

There are 16 genotypes with both resistance to cold and drought and tolerance to salinity, such as Shi 86-8107, Jimai 22, Bao 436 and Shi 86-5031 etc. (Table 2).

The correlations of abiotic stress and other agronomic characteristics: No any correlation was found between drought resistance and other characters (Table 3). That increasing hydraulic resistance in the seminal root can improve harvest index was first proposed by Passioura (1972). Works subsequently have shown that this can best be achieved by decreasing the diameter of the main xylem vessel in the seminal roots (Richards and Passioura 1981a, b). Richards (1985)
reported that in all environments lines with small xylem vessels yielded more than lines with larger vessels, and the field advantage was greatest in the driest environments. Higher yields of the determinate tillering cereals over conventional type in dry environments have been found by Donald (1979), Islam and Sedgley (1981) and Richards (1983). Lupton (1987) reported if drought occurs before flowering, the lines with floppy leaves may be drought resistant, and if drought occurs after flowering the lines with erect leaves may be drought resistant.

No any correlation existed between salinity tolerance and other characters. Jones (1981) reported that salinity resistance conditioned by osmoregulation is often recognized by the "succulent" appearance of the plant. Blum (1988) stated seeds germination in saline media is often used as a singular criterion for salinity resistance or in combination with other criteria. The rate of surviving plants associated with salinity tolerance in salt stress conditions (Dewey 1962). In all the reports we know there is no correlation between drought resistance and salinity tolerance.

There is a significantly negative correlation between wilting degree and plant height in coldness condition. It means that the higher the plant is, the lower the wilting degree of the plant is, or the more cold resistant the plant is. Also there is significantly positive correlation between wilting degree and spikelets per spike, net-spikelets per spike and 1000-grain weight. No any correlation was found between cold resistance and other characters (Table 3). Blum (1988) reported that both tissue-water content and plant erectness were highly and negatively correlated with field winter survival index. Dexter et al. (1932) reported that the rate of leakage of electrolytes from plant tissues after a freezing stress was indicated as a potential criterion for freezing tolerance (Quamme 1982). Leakage is considered to be proportional to the rate of damage in living cells. The rate of accumulation of sugar in the hardened tissues was often correlated (Rajki 1972) with survival after freezing. Gusta et al. (1983) found that a moderate correlation between osmotic potential and winter survival in wheat. Whether osmotic adjustment is evaluated by chemical or psychrometric method it can evidently be evaluated only in a limited number of samples out of the whole population. So, we consider the best selection criteria is the rate of winter survival in the field or CRI mentioned above.


Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Mr. Hu Fushun, Mr. Qiao Shiyuan, Ms. Lu Li and Mr. Zhang Xianying for the help in resistance evaluation.

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