Evaluation of Salt‐Tolerant Sweet Potato ( Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) Genotypes Using Morphophysiological and Biochemical Markers

ABSTRACT

Salinity stress hinders plant physiological processes, resulting in lower crop yields and posing serious challenges to agriculture. Sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas L.) varies among genotypes in terms of salinity tolerance, highlighting the need to select those that maintain development and yield under salinity stress. The morphophysiological and biochemical reactions of four sweet potato genotypes (H‐16‐EJ/10, H‐9.7/12, H‐9.48/11, and CIP‐TCRC‐04) to salinity stress were investigated. Three varying electrical conductivity (EC) values were applied to the sweet potato genotypes: 0.3 as a control, 8, and 12 dS m ⁻¹ . A completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used in the experiment. The findings demonstrated that salinity stress (8 and 12 dS m ⁻¹ ) decreased the morphological parameters, including vine length, tuber length, branch/plant ratio, marketable tuber weight, tuber diameter, and vine fresh weight. The 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (%) was greater for genotypes H‐16‐EJ/10. Compared to the respective controls, an enhancement in salinity led to a reduction in photosynthetic pigment content. Under salinity stress, the concentration of proline increased fivefold, with H‐16‐EJ/10 accumulating the most. With a high K ⁺ /Na ⁺ ratio, H‐16‐EJ/10 and H‐9.7/12 were the most resilient to salinity stress. Genotype H‐16‐EJ/10 was the most salt resistant since it had the highest K ⁺ /Na ⁺ ratio, photosynthetic pigment, antioxidant system activity, and marketable tuber weight and the lowest degree of ROS generation under salinity stress. H‐16‐EJ/10 and H‐9.7/12 could be considered for field trials in saline‐prone areas because of their strong salt tolerance and high tuber yield, and they can also be used for breeding purposes to create new salinity‐tolerant genotypes for sustainable production.