Effects of water stress on morpho-physiological traits in some wheat varieties in Iran

Environmental stresses, particularly drought stress, are one of important factors affecting the growth and yield of crops. Wheat as a strategic product is not an exception and its yield is reduced by the drought stress effects. Because of the important contribution of wheat in food security, and the water deficit being a limited factor in arid and semiarid areas of Iran, identifying drought tolerant wheat varieties can have a significant impact on food availability for the population. The study was thus conducted to evaluate three wheat varieties viz. Kavir, Backcross and Roshan for drought tolerance in the agricultural research farm of Islamic Azad University, Yadegare Imam Khomeiny Shahre, Ray Branch in spring 2014. In order to identify the best variety in the region, effects of drought stress on physiological and morphological traits in the three varieties were analyzed by using SAS software. Results showed that water stress had significant effect on the days to physiological maturity, grain filling rate, number of spikelet per spike, shoot height, shoot diameter, yield per plant, 1000 grain weight, tillers number and relative water content. Kavir variety had maximum yield under water stress. Therefore, it was concluded that the effective traits of Kavir variety can be used in resistance breeding programmes and it was found as a suitable local variety for the water deficit areas.