Automated salt tolerance level assessment software for pumpkin germplasm. [Photo/news.hzau.edu.cn]

Researchers at Huazhong Agricultural University's (HZAU) College of Engineering have achieved a notable breakthrough in breeding salt-tolerant pumpkins.

Their work, titled Salt stress estimation in pumpkin germplasm based on maximum likelihood statistical modeling of the leaf color space distribution, was published in the journal Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.

Current methods for assessing salt stress in pumpkin seedlings, which rely on manual grading or laboratory analysis, are costly, time-consuming, subjective, and often inaccurate. To address these limitations, the HZAU team developed a more scientific and convenient detection method essential for efficient breeding programs.

At the core of the new method is a high-resolution imaging-based phenotyping platform. The team designed a Salt Stress Status Index (β) by statistically analyzing the maximum likelihood values of normalized reflection intensity across the true leaves' color channels. This index is strongly correlated with chlorophyll content, making it an objective measure of physiological changes due to salt stress. They also introduced a Leaf Texture Factor (α) to capture detailed structural changes in the leaves.

This statistical model accurately quantifies the impact of salt damage, offering significant advantages over traditional methods by being more efficient and objective. The method achieves 95.65 percent accuracy in classifying stress levels, enabling the rapid and precise identification of salt stress in pumpkin seedlings. This innovation provides a robust tool for selecting resilient cultivars and offers a valuable reference for salt stress identification in other plant species.