Selection Under Stress: Assessing Wheat Genotypes for Drought Stress Resilience
Selection Under Stress: Assessing Wheat Genotypes for Drought Stress Resilience
Ihteram Ullah1*, Iftikhar Hussain Khalil2, Said Salman1, Nasir Mehmood3, Abdul Majid4, Syed Noor Muhammad Shah5 and Zahoor Ahmed6
ABSTRACT
Post-anthesis drought poses a significant threat to wheat productivity on a global scale. To assess the performance of wheat genotypes under differing moisture regimes, a study was conducted at Agricultural University, Peshawar, using 24 advanced wheat lines alongside four check cultivars grown in irrigated (normal) and rainfed (stress) conditions. All measured traits, except grain weight per seed, showed significant differences (P ≤ 0.01) amid environments. There was also substantial genetic variation among the wheat lines for all traits with significant genotype × environment interactions, particularly for spike production and grain yield. Compared to irrigated conditions, rainfed conditions caused significant reductions in studied traits in all genotypes. This included a decrease of 117 spikes m-2, 7.0 grains spike-1, and a grain yield decline of 399 kg ha-1. Our results revealed that three stress selection indices, mean productivity (MP), geometric mean productivity (GMP), and stress tolerance index (STI), were most efficient in identifying adaptable wheat varieties that performed well under both irrigated and rainfed conditions. Selection based on trait index (TI) demonstrated effectiveness solely for grains spike-1 and 1000-grain weight under both conditions. On the contrary, selection based on tolerance (TOL) and trait stability index (TSI) proved most effective for grain yield, irrespective of the environmental conditions. These findings highlight the efficacy of TOL and TSI as primary criteria for genotype selection under irrigated conditions, whereas TI emerges as a appropriate criterion for rainfed environments.
To share on other social networks, click on any share button. What are these?
