Effect of Moisture Stress on Plant Water Relations and Yield of Different Wheat Genotypes

Moisture stress is a major constraint for wheat productivity throughout the world. To generate information on the effect of moisture stress on various traits which contribute for yield would be helpful in developing tolerant genotypes. An experiment was conducted with eight varieties of wheat grown under normal irrigation (E₁) and moisture stress (E₂) environments, to identify the effect of different soil moisture regimes on flag leaf area, relative water content (RWC), proline content and grain yield. Flag leaf area, RWC, proline content and grain yield decreased significantly under moisture stress (E₂) environment, compared to irrigated (E₁) environment. Genotypes PBW 175, RSP 81, PBW 500, K 9943 and HUW 576 produced more grain yield/plant than RSP 303, WH 542 and RSP 312 under E₂ environment. These cultivars may ultimately prove to be outstanding under moisture stress conditions since these are able to produce highest leaf area, grain yield/plant, number of tillers/plant, 1000 grain weight, minimum reduction in RWC and more accumulation of proline content. Drought susceptibility index (DSI) of these cultivars also exhibited least values. DSI, RWC and proline content could be taken as important criteria for breeding wheat genotypes for moisture stress conditions.