The present study carried out a comparative evaluation of 38 rice genotypes (including 17 landraces) for salinity tolerance at germination and early seedling stage salt tolerance of genotype is stage specific. Hence to understand the significance of the contribution of different salt tolerance mechanisms among genotypes, its primary requisite to reveal its tolerance level at an early seedling stage before. A refined scoring system for salt tolerance evaluation at the early seedling stage was designed to reveal genotypes salt tolerance in a given experimental conditions. The extent of genetic similarity was assessed by AFLP among 21 of them. Comparative analysis in similar growth conditions, stage and time-points provided a better understanding of theinvolvement of stress effect mitigating genes among diverse rice genotypes. This study evaluated salinity tolerance of several unexplored genotypes/land races to enable effective use of these in particular soil conditions and can be utilized to improve tolerance of sensitive but agronomically important landraces.
